say it: PAWR-tuhl
portal is a noun meaning "a grand and imposing entrance (often extended metaphorically)". It carries 3 recorded senses.
a grand and imposing entrance (often extended metaphorically)
“the portals of the cathedral”
“the portals of heaven”
“the portals of success”
a site that the owner positions as an entrance to other sites on the internet
“a portal typically has search engines and free email and chat rooms etc.”
a short vein that carries blood into the liver
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for portal come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.