corridor
A long hallway that connects different rooms in a building.
A corridor is a long, narrow hallway that connects different rooms in a building. Schools have corridors lined with lockers where students walk between classes. Hospitals have corridors that lead to patient rooms. Hotels have corridors with numbered doors on either side.
Corridors are designed for movement and passage rather than for staying in one place.
The word can also describe a strip of land that connects two places, like a wildlife corridor that allows animals to travel safely between forests, or an air corridor that planes follow when flying between countries. In history, countries sometimes negotiated for a corridor of land to reach an important port or resource, creating a thin band of territory stretching between regions.
When someone talks about the corridors of power, they mean the hallways in government buildings where important decisions are made, and it can also suggest behind-the-scenes places where leaders meet and negotiate.