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Meaning & use

town

noun·Everyday

Last updated

UK/taʊn/
US/taʊn/

Meanings

  1. nouncountable

    A place where people live and work, with streets, shops, and public buildings, bigger than a village but smaller than a city.

    Grammar: Takes a/the; use the town for your local one: I'm going into town.

    Patterns

    • a town in somewhere
    • live in a town

    They live in a small town near the coast.

    The town has a bakery, a library, and two schools.

    We drove through three towns on our way.

  2. noununcountableinformal

    The main shopping or business area of a place, or the nearby urban area you visit, used without an article.

    Grammar: Often without an or the: go into town, out of town.

    Patterns

    • go into town
    • be out of town

    I'm going into town to buy a gift.

    She's out of town until Friday.

    Let's meet in town after work.

  3. nounsingular

    The people who live in a town, considered as a group.

    Grammar: Takes a singular verb, though it refers to many people: the whole town was there.

    Patterns

    • the whole town

    The whole town came out to watch the parade.

    The town voted to build a new park.

    News of the lottery win spread through town quickly.

Word forms

pluraltowns

Common combinations

small town
She grew up in a small town in Ohio.
town center
The bus stops in the town center.
town hall
The meeting was at the town hall.
go into town
Do you want to go into town for lunch?
out of town
My cousin is out of town this weekend.
ghost town
After the mine closed, it became a ghost town.

Synonyms and how they differ

village
A village is smaller than a town and usually more rural.
city
A city is larger and more important, though the line with town varies by country.
township
Township is a formal word for a local government area or a small town, mainly in North America and South Africa.
community
Community stresses the people and their relationships, rather than the place itself.

Opposites

countryside

Word family

townsfolk noun
people who live in a town
townsperson noun
a person who lives in a town
township noun
a local government district or small town
townie noun
an informal word for a town resident, sometimes teasing
downtown adverb
in or toward the central area of a city

Commonly confused: town or city?

town vs city

Both are urban places, but a city is generally larger and often has a cathedral or major institutions in British usage.

Practice

I'm going ___ to buy some groceries and look at the shops.

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