town
Pluraltowns
- 1A place where people live and shop, bigger than a village but smaller than a city.
Our town has one school, two churches, and a small grocery store.
They drove through three small towns on the way to the lake.
Similarmunicipality, borough
Note
- 2The place, town or city, where you live or are now, as in 'new in town'.
Everyone in town is talking about the new bakery on Main Street.
The fair is the biggest event in town every summer.
UsageSay in town with no the: she's in town this week.
Note
- 3A community's local government, set up by law, or in parts of the US the whole area it runs, including countryside.
The town voted to raise money for a new fire truck.
Our town owns the water system and sets the rates.
Similarmunicipality, council
Note
- 4A bigger or busier place that people from smaller places travel to.
We live on a farm and go to town once a week for supplies.
From the ranch, town is a forty-minute drive on gravel roads.
UsageSay go into town, with no the.
Oppositecountry
Note
- 5All the people who live in a town, thought of as one group.
The whole town came out to watch the parade.
The town was shocked by the news about the fire at the school.
UsageUsually with the: the whole town, half the town.
Similarcommunity, townspeople, townsfolk
Less common meanings
- 6The ordinary people of a college town, not the students or teachers.
The college invited the whole town to its football games to make friends with its neighbors.
Students and the town don't always get along, but the spring fair brings everyone together.
UsageUsed in town and gown.
Oppositegown
- 7Long ago in Britain, a country settlement where a market was held every week.
In old England, a village with its own weekly market counted as a town.
In medieval Britain, a weekly market could turn a village into a town.
Note
- 8In the past, the fenced land around a lord's house, or all the land he controlled.
Note
- 9In old country speech in Britain, a farm or the yard beside a farmhouse.
Note
- 10The busy middle part of a city or town, with most of its stores and offices.
Let's take the bus into town and look around the stores.
We live out in the suburbs, but my mom works in town.
UsageUsed with no the: go into town, head into town.
Note
- 11Cities and other built-up places, and the kind of life people live there, not the countryside.
Some people love the town, and others would rather live in the country.
My cousin left the farm for town life and never looked back.
UsageOften in town and country.
Similarcity
Oppositecountry, countryside
Note
- 12A short, casual word for a townhouse, a home joined to others in a row.
Detached houses always sell faster than towns or semis.
2002, Garth Turner, The Little Book of Real Estate WisdomHere, towns means townhouses, homes that share walls with the homes next door.
Practice
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Origin
It comes from Old English tūn, meaning "enclosure" or "garden." This came from older Germanic words for "fence" or "enclosure," and before that from Celtic.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Town comes from Old English tūn. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English tūn meant enclosure or garden. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English tūn derives from earlier Germanic forms. en.wiktionary.org
- The earlier Germanic word meant fence or enclosure. en.wiktionary.org
- The Germanic ancestor was borrowed from Celtic. en.wiktionary.org