townnoun
uk/taʊn/us/taʊn/A1 [ C or U ] a place where people live and work, containing many houses, shops, places of work, places of entertainment, etc., and usually larger than a village but smaller than a city:
a seaside/coastal town
a fishing/mining/industrial town
He was born in the small town of Castleford, in Yorkshire.
We stayed in the best hotel in town.
the main road into/out of town
See also
downtown
hometown
uptown
A2 [ S or U ] mainly UK the part of a town where most of the businesses are:
I'm going into/to town at lunchtime to do some shopping.
I met Charles while I was in town.
Compare
downtown
[ U ] UK the most important city or town in a country or area:
We went up to town to see a play.
Many people commute into town (= London) from Essex.
B1 [ U ] mainly US the place where you live or work:
I'm leaving town for a few days.
Barbara is out of town on business this week.
the town [ S ]
[ + sing/pl verb ] the people who live in the town:
The whole town is/are hoping that their team will win the final tomorrow.
UK a town or city, rather than the countryside:
I've always lived in the town.
More examples
- There's not much in the way of entertainment in this town - just the cinema and a couple of pubs.
- We spent our holidays in a small French town.
- The town's main features are its beautiful mosque and ancient marketplace.
- As agriculture became more capital intensive, many farm labourers moved to the towns and cities to look for work.
- When you're in town could you pick up the books I ordered?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Towns & regions: towns, cities & villages (general)
- aerotropolis
- backwater
- bedroom community
- Cantabrigian
- capital
- conurbation
- county borough
- dormitory town
- ghost town
- Greater
- hill station
- hometown
- megacity
- metropolis
- one-horse town
- port
- settlement
- small-town
- spa
- urbanite
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Towns & regions: areas in towns & cities
People who live or settle somewhere
Idiom(s)
go to town
on the town