Meaning & use
a townie
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A person who lives in a town and is seen as different from students or visitors there.
Grammar: Countable, so use 'a townie' for one person and 'townies' for several; the 'a' is dropped in general statements.
Patterns
- a townie from somewhere
- the townies and the students
In this university city, the students and the townies rarely mix.
He grew up as a townie and had never spent much time on a farm.
Some townies work in the shops that serve the college crowd.
nouncountableinformaldisapproving
A young person from a town, especially one seen as unfashionable by people from a big city.
Grammar: Countable and often mildly disapproving; it can sound like a judgment about someone's background.
Patterns
- a townie kid
- call someone a townie
The city kids teased him and called him a townie.
She said the townies dressed differently from her friends back home.
Word forms
| plural | townies |
|---|
Common combinations
- students and townies
- Tension between students and townies is common in old university towns.
- a local townie
- A local townie showed us the quickest way to the market.
- call someone a townie
- It is unkind to call someone a townie just because of where they live.
- townie accent
- His townie accent was easy to notice next to the students' voices.
- a townie bar
- We ended up in a townie bar where no students ever went.
Synonyms and how they differ
- local
- Neutral and simply means someone who lives nearby; 'townie' adds a hint of judgment or contrast with outsiders.
- villager
- Refers to someone from a village rather than a town, so it fits a rural setting better.
- resident
- Formal and neutral for anyone living in a place; it lacks the informal, slightly disapproving tone of 'townie'.
Opposites
Word family
- town noun
- A place with houses, shops, and streets, larger than a village but smaller than a city.
- townspeople noun
- The people who live in a town, used as a neutral plural.
- towny noun
- A less common spelling of the same informal word.
Commonly confused: a townie or towny? a townie or townee?
a townie vs towny
This is just another spelling of 'townie' and means the same thing; 'townie' is the more usual spelling.
a townie vs townee
A rare variant spelling of the same word; most writers use 'townie'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'a townie' in the most natural way?
Choose one answer.
'Townie' is a countable noun, so it needs the article 'a' and a normal relative clause: 'a townie who has lived here'. The other options mix in wrong prepositions and verb forms that do not fit a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a townie”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.