- town
- noun1 place with many streets and buildingsADJECTIVE▪ big, large, major▪ little, small, tiny (esp. AmE)▪ nearby, neighbouring/neighboring, surrounding▪ ancient, historic, medieval, old▪ new▪
It was built as a new town in the 1960s. (BrE)
▪ company (esp. AmE), factory (esp. AmE), farm (esp. AmE), industrial, mill, mining▪a 19th-century mill town that used to produce cotton
▪ busy▪a busy market town
▪ boom, thriving▪Rio was a boom town and trade was thriving.
▪a thriving mining town
▪ dusty, sleepy▪the dusty border town of Eagle Pass, Texas
▪a sleepy provincial town in southern France
▪ remote▪ country, provincial, rural▪ county (BrE)▪Exeter, the county town of Devon
▪ home, native▪She has gone back to live in her home town.
▪ border, frontier▪ mountain, prairie (esp. AmE)▪ beach (esp. AmE), coastal, seaside (esp. BrE)▪the sun-drenched beach towns of Southern California
▪ holiday (BrE), resort▪ cathedral, college (AmE), market, university (esp. BrE)▪ dormitory (BrE), satellite▪ fortified▪Kitzbühel is an ancient fortified town.
▪ shanty▪ ghost▪It's been a ghost town since the gold rush ended.
▪ twin (BrE)▪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, skip (informal, esp. AmE)▪He left town yesterday for a conference in Cape Town.
▪They wanted to move out of town and start a new life in the country.
▪ surround▪the rolling hills that surround the town
TOWN + VERB▪ flourish, growTOWN + NOUN▪ centre (BrE)▪ hall, square, walls▪ council▪ meeting▪ life▪ planningPREPOSITION▪ in town▪They'll be back in town tomorrow.
▪ out of town▪I was out of town last week.
▪an out-of-town superstore
▪ outside (the) town▪a lake just outside the town
PHRASES▪ the centre/center of (the) town, the middle of (the) town▪ the edge of (the) town, the outskirts of (the) town▪ from town to town▪I spent years moving from town to town.
2 main part of a town, with the shops/stores, etc.VERB + TOWN▪ go into, hit (informal)▪I'm going into town—can I get you anything?
▪Millie hit the town, looking for excitement.
PREPOSITION▪ in town▪Dad's in town shopping.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
