DictionaryAI

town

noun
TOWN/taʊn/

Pluraltowns

12 meanings of town

Practice

  1. 1
    bigger than villagenouncountable or uncountable
    A settlement with residential areas, shops and amenities, and its own local government, especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city.

    The town grew quickly after the railroad arrived in the 1880s.

    Several nearby towns share a single volunteer fire department.

    Similarmunicipality, borough

    Note

    Walls and stockades are a recurring theme in writing about towns. Thomas Brennan (2001) says walls separated town and country and gave towns a sense of identity.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The cited contribution by Thomas Brennan was first published in 2001. assets.cambridge.org
    • Brennan says walls separated town and country and helped give towns an identity. cambridge.org
  2. 2
    nouncolloquialcountable or uncountable
    The town or city being talked about, especially the one where the speaker lives or is staying, whatever its official size.

    She's the best mechanic in town, and her schedule shows it.

    We're only in town until Sunday, so we're trying to see all the museums before we fly home.

    UsageUsually no article: in town, out of town, all over town.

    Note

    Without "the," town simply points at the place speakers share, so it fits a village or suburb as easily as a chartered town.

  3. 3
    local governmentnouncountable or uncountable
    A municipal corporation whose powers are set by the larger jurisdiction's laws; in parts of the US, especially New England, also the whole district it governs, which may include villages and open countryside.

    The town was sued over the condition of its sidewalks.

    Under state law, the town must hold a public hearing before borrowing money.

    Similarmunicipality, council

    Note

    The lawyer's town is a creature of statute. It exists, borrows, sues and is sued because the laws of a larger jurisdiction say so, and those laws set its powers. What matters is its legal standing, not the size that defines the everyday settlement.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • A town in this legal sense is a municipal corporation whose powers and duties are established by law. nysenate.gov
    • Legislation authorizes towns to borrow and limits that authority. malegislature.gov
    • A town can sue and be sued in its corporate capacity. malegislature.gov
  4. 4
    nouncountable or uncountable
    Any settlement more urbanized than the place from which it is viewed, such as the nearest larger center for people living in rural areas.

    After a month at the cabin, they drove into town for groceries and mail.

    For families on the surrounding farms, a trip to town meant the county seat, with its bank and feed store.

    UsageUsually no article in expressions such as go into town and drive to town.

    Oppositecountry

    Note

    Here town is relative: it means whatever place is busier than where you stand. From Yonkers, "into town" means Manhattan. In the American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897), a judge has "gone to town" from a quiet lakeside world.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The Yonkers-to-Manhattan example is attested as an illustration of this relative sense. en.wiktionary.org
    • Winston Churchill, the author concerned, was an American novelist. en.wikipedia.org
    • Winston Churchill wrote The Celebrity. gutenberg.org
    • The novel's narrator reports that Judge Short had gone to town, in a lakeside setting; the quoted words are narration, not the judge's speech. gutenberg.org
  5. 5
    noun
    The residents of a town, taken together as a single community.

    When the factory closed, the town rallied to help the families who had lost their jobs.

    Half the town turned out for the high school's homecoming game on Friday night.

    UsageUsually with the: the whole town, half the town.

    Similarcommunity, townspeople, townsfolk

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of town apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

It comes from Middle English toun, from Old English tūn ("enclosure, garden"), which goes back through Proto-Germanic *tūną ("fence, enclosure") to a Celtic origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ("to last"). It is related to Dutch tuin ("garden"), German Zaun ("fence"), and the Scandinavian tun ("yard"), and is a doublet of dun.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts