local
Noun plurallocals
Plurallocals
- 1Found in or coming from the area near where you are.
Like food grown on a farm just down the road from you.
We bought vegetables from a local farm.
The local newspaper covered the school fundraiser.
UsageSay local stores or the local newspaper.
Similarnearby, regional, neighboring
Oppositenational, international, global, foreign
- 2Someone who lives in a town or area, not a visitor.
Like someone who has always lived in your town, not a tourist passing through.
The locals know the best places to eat.
A friendly local showed us the way to the harbor.
UsageSay the locals, or ask a local.
Similarresident, native, inhabitant
Oppositevisitor, tourist, outsider, stranger
Note
- 3
- 4Stored on your own computer, so you can use it without the internet.
Like keeping a book on your own shelf instead of borrowing it from a faraway library each time.
The file is saved on your local drive.
You can open local files even when the internet is down.
UsageSay a local drive; the opposite is remote.
Oppositeremote
Note
- 5Affecting only one small part of the body, not the whole body.
Like putting a bandage on just the cut, not the whole arm.
The doctor gave her a local injection to numb the area.
He had a local infection in one finger.
UsageSay local swelling or a local infection.
Similartopical
Note
Less common meanings
- 6
- 7Short for local anesthetic: medicine that numbs just one part of the body.
The dentist gave me a local before filling the tooth.
You'll only need a local for this small procedure.
UsageSay the dentist gave me a local.
Note
- 8Working only inside one small part of a computer program.
Like a note that only one room can read, not the whole house.
This value is local, so other parts of the code can't see it.
Keep the counter local to avoid changing it elsewhere.
UsageSay a local variable; the opposite is global.
Oppositeglobal
Note
- 9A name in a program that works only inside one part of the code.
Like a nickname only used inside one room.
The function declares a local to hold the total.
You can rename a local without breaking other code.
Oppositeglobal
Note
- 10Clipping of local train. A train that stops at every station along its route.
The local stops at every station on the way into the city.
We caught the early local before the express even arrived.
UsageSay take the local.
Note
- 11
- 12
- 13A piece of news about the town or area where a newspaper is printed.
- 14A Twitter user who is not part of the close fan groups on the site.
- 15A trader who buys and sells with their own money, not for other investors.
- 16In maths, true near each point or in each small part, rather than for the whole thing.
- 17In algebra, said of a ring that has exactly one largest left ideal.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of local apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Latin locus, meaning "a place." It came into English through Late Latin locālis, meaning "belonging to a place."
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Local ultimately derives from Latin locus, meaning "a place." en.wiktionary.org
- Local came into English through Late Latin locālis, meaning "belonging to a place." en.wiktionary.org