different between town vs locality

English

Alternative forms

• tahn, tawn (Bermuda),
• toune, towne (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English town, toun, from Old English t?n (“enclosure, garden”), from Proto-Germanic *t?n? (“fence”) (compare West Frisian tún, Dutch tuin (“garden”), German Zaun, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tun), from Gaulish d?nom (“hill, hillfort”), from Proto-Celtic *d?nom (compare archaic Welsh din (“hill”), Irish dún (“fortress”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh?- (“to finish, come full circle”). Doublet of dun. See also -ton and tine (“to enclose”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ta?n/, [t?a??n]
• Rhymes: -a?n

Noun

town (countable and uncountable, plural towns)

1. A settlement; an area with residential districts, shops and amenities, and its own local government; especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city.
2. Any more urbanized center than the place of reference.
3. (Britain, historical) A rural settlement in which a market was held at least once a week.
4. The residents (as opposed to gown: the students, faculty, etc.) of a community which is the site of a university.
5. (colloquial) Used to refer to a town or similar entity under discussion.
6. (humorous, ironic) A major city, especially one where the speaker is located.
7. (law) A municipal organization, such as a corporation, defined by the laws of the entity of which it is a part.
8. (obsolete) An enclosure which surrounded the mere homestead or dwelling of the lord of the manor.
9. (obsolete) The whole of the land which constituted the domain.
10. (obsolete) A collection of houses enclosed by fences or walls.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Palsgrave to this entry?)

11. (Britain, Scotland, dialect, obsolete) A farm or farmstead; also, a court or farmyard.

Usage notes

• An urban city is typically larger than a rural town, which in turn is typically larger than a village. In rural areas, a town may be considered urban. In urban areas, a town can be considered suburban; a village in the suburbs. The distinctions are fluid and dependent on subjective perception.

Hypernyms

• settlement

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (taun)

Translations

See also

• urban
• suburban
• rural

Anagrams

• nowt, wo'n't, won't, wont

Middle English

Noun

town

1. Alternative form of toun

English

Etymology

From French localité, from Late Latin localitas, equivalent to local +? -ity.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /lo??kæl?ti/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /l???kæl?ti/
• Rhymes: -æl?ti
• Hyphenation: lo?cal?i?ty

Noun

locality (countable and uncountable, plural localities)

1. The fact or quality of having a position in space.
   • 1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica

     It is thought that the soul and angels are devoid of quantity and dimension, and that they have nothing to do with grosser locality.

2. The features or surroundings of a particular place.
3. (uncountable, mathematics, computing) The condition of being local.
4. The situation or position of an object.
5. An area or district considered as the site of certain activities; a neighbourhood.
6. Limitation to a county, district, or place.
7. (dated, phrenology) The perceptive faculty concerned with the ability to remember the relative positions of places.

Translations

References

• locality in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• coitally