town S1 W1 /taʊn/ noun
[Language: Old English; Origin: tun 'yard, buildings inside a wall, village, town']

1. PLACE [countable] a large area with houses, shops, offices etc where people live and work, that is smaller than a city and larger than a village:
an industrial town in the Midlands
town of
the town of Norwalk, Connecticut
I walked to the nearest town.

2. MAIN CENTRE [uncountable] the business or shopping centre of a town:
We’re going into town tonight to see a film.
They have a small apartment in town.

3. PEOPLE [singular] all the people who live in a particular town:
The whole town turned out to watch the procession.

4. WHERE YOU LIVE [uncountable] the town or city where you live:
Cam left town about an hour ago, so he should be out at the farm by now.
I’ll be out of town for about a week.
Guess who’s in town? Jodie’s sister!
Do you know of a good place to eat? I’m from out of town (=from a different town).
We’re moving to another part of town.

5. VILLAGE [countable] American English several houses forming a small group around a church, shops etc Synonym : village British English:
Rowayton is a small town of around 4000 people.

6. NOT COUNTRY the town life in towns and cities in general:
Which do you prefer, the town or the country?

7. go to town (on something) informal to do something in a very eager or thorough way:
Angela really went to town on buying things for her new house.

8. (out) on the town informal going to restaurants, bars, theatres etc for entertainment in the evening:
Frank is taking me out for a night on the town.

9. town and gown used to describe the situation in which the people living in a town and the students in a town seem to be separate and opposing groups
⇒ ghost town, home town, ⇒ paint the town (red) at paint²(5)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

town
noun
I. place with many streets and buildings
ADJ. big, large, major | little, small | nearby, neighbouring, surrounding | ancient, historic, medieval, old | new It was built as a new town in the 1960s.
industrial | busy a busy market town
boom, thriving London was a boom town and the stock market was soaring. a thriving holiday town
sleepy a sleepy provincial town in southern France
country, provincial | county Beverley was then the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire (= the main town where the county offices were).
home, native She has gone back to live in her home town.
border | coastal, seaside | holiday, resort | cathedral, market, university | dormitory, satellite | fortified Kitzbuhel is an ancient fortified town with fine medieval buildings.
shanty | ghost It's been a ghost town since the gold rush ended.
twin Darlington's twin town of Amiens
VERB + TOWN build, found | live in How many people live in the town?
get out of, leave, move out of He left town yesterday for a conference in York. They wanted to move out of town and start a new life in the country.
TOWN + VERB grow | flourish
TOWN + NOUN hall, square, walls | council | life | planning
PREP. in ~ They'll be back in town tomorrow.
out of ~ I was out of town last week. an out-of-town superstore
outside (the) ~ a lake just outside the town
PHRASES the centre/middle of (the) town, the edge/outskirts of (the) town

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

town
II. main part of a town, with the shops, etc.
VERB + TOWN go into I'm going into town?can I get you anything?
PREP. in ~ Mum's in town doing some shopping.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

town

small/big
I grew up in a small town in Iowa.
The nearest big town is 20 miles away.
a little town
a pretty little town in the French Alps
a major town
It is one of the UK’s biggest retailers with shops in every major town.
busy/bustling
The town was busy even in November.
quiet
The town is quiet in the summer.
Cannigione is a quiet little town with a scattering of shops, restaurants and cafes.
sleepy (=very quiet, with not much happening)
Johnson grew up in the sleepy retirement town of Asheville.
a historic/ancient town
Visitors can go on a tour of this historic town.
an industrial town
Thousands moved to the newly forming industrial towns to work in the mills.
a seaside town
young people looking for seasonal work in seaside towns
a provincial town (=one that is not near the capital)
Many provincial towns were transformed by the coming of the railway.
a market town (=a town in Britain where there is a regular outdoor market)
The pretty market town of Ashbourne is only 9 miles away.
sb’s home town (=the town where someone was born)
He was buried in his home town of Leeds.
a new town (=one of several towns built in Britain since 1946)
The design of Milton Keynes and other new towns proved unpopular.
the centre of town/the town centre British English, the center of town/the town center American English
The hotel was right in the center of town.
the outskirts/edge of a town
It was six o'clock when she reached the outskirts of the town.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

city a large area with houses, shops, offices etc that is often the centre of government for an area. A city is bigger than a town:
The nearest big city is San Francisco.
town a large area with houses, shops, offices etc. A town is smaller than a city:
La Coruña is a pretty seaside town.
capital (also capital city) the city where the government of a country or state is:
We travelled to Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
metropolis a big busy city that is full of people and activity:
After 1850 Paris grew quickly into a busy metropolis.
urban adjective [only before noun] relating to towns and cities:
Air pollution is particularly bad in urban areas.
urban development
the outskirts the area around the edge of a city or just outside it:
Disneyland is on the outskirts of Paris.
suburb an area around the edges of a city, where many people live:
He lives in a suburb of London.
⇒ the suburbs:
More and more people are moving to the suburbs.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

town
taun
See: go to town , on the town , paint the town red

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲