In South Africa, a township was a town where only black people lived.
...the South African township of Soweto. [+ of]
...a black township.
2. countable noun
In the United States and Canada, a township is an area of land, especially a part of a county which is organized as a unit of local government.
township in British English
(ˈtaʊnʃɪp)
noun
1.
a small town
2.
(in the Scottish Highlands and islands) a small crofting community
3.
(in the US and Canada) a territorial area, esp a subdivision of a county: often organized as a unit of local government
4.
(formerly, in South Africa) a planned urban settlement of Black Africans or Coloured people
Compare location (sense 4)
5. English history
a.
any of the local districts of a large parish, each division containing a village or small town
b.
the particular manor or parish itself as a territorial division
c.
the inhabitants of a township collectively
township in American English
(ˈtaʊnʃɪp)
noun
1. Obsolete
in England, a parish or division of a parish, as a unit of territory and administration
2.
in parts of the U.S. and Canada, a division of a county, constituting a unit of local government with administrative control of local schools, roads, etc.
3.
in New England, town (sense 4) town (sense 4b)
4.
a unit of territory in the U.S. land survey, generally six miles square, containing 36 mile-square sections, and sometimes, but not necessarily, coextensive with a governmental township
5.
in South Africa, a segregated, nonwhite area in or just outside a city
Word origin
ME tunscipe < OE, people living in a tun: see town & -ship
Examples of 'township' in a sentence
township
But the townships are no-go areas for foreigners after dark.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
It is alleged that the incident took place between last Sunday and Wednesday in township areas around the city.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
A small township, stretched along the bank of the great river, drifted by and dwindled into the distance.
Edward Beauclerk Maurice THE LAST OF THE GENTLEMEN ADVENTURERS: Coming of Age in the Arctic (2004)