Skip to main content
small town

small town

245 1.5
A community with few people and few shops
  • noun
  • /smɔl taʊn/
translation icon : pueblo pequeño
  • That's what's great about a small town.
  • live in a small town
  • small-town life
  • small-town community

It built Norris, which is a small town in Tennessee.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Christa grew up in a small town in Oklahoma.

  • I come from a small town named Ridge Grove, California.

  • It's kind of a small town in North Africa.

  • Two school going friends in a small town had a crazy idea.

  • I mean, especially if you live in a small town, like people talk.

  • We were raised in a very small town.

  • I'm just a girl from a very small town in Indiana.

  • And they came back home to a small town in Pennsylvania called Milton, PA.

  • I grew up in a small town called Rome, GA.

  • She moved to a small town where everyone knows each other.

Synonyms

village
vssmall town
1.0

A small group of houses in the countryside where people live and form a community

is larger in scale and more urbanized than that rural settlement
hamlet
vssmall town
24 5.0

A very small group of houses in the countryside

describes a larger community with more population and some infrastructure
township
vssmall town
20 3.2

A small community outside a city where people live

is the general name for a smaller settlement rather than an administrative unit
burg
vssmall town
  • Informal
9 7.9

A small town, not a big city

is a neutral description of a smaller settlement without familiar tone
ville
vssmall town
5 5.8

A small town often used in French place names

is the plain description of a smaller settlement rather than a name element
one-horse town
vssmall town
  • Informal
4 6.0

A small town with few shops and little to do

is the neutral term for a smaller community without implying unimportance
podunk
vssmall town
  • Informal
4 9.9

A small, boring town far from big cities

is a neutral description of a smaller community without negative judgement
cow town
vssmall town
  • US
3 7.3

A small town where people raise and sell cows

is a general small community not specific to any economic activity
market town
vssmall town
  • UK
1 3.1

A town that regularly holds a public market

is a broader concept of a smaller settlement not tied to markets

Antonyms

1.0

A large town where many people live and work that has its own local government

How Big

metropolis
175 5.2
city
1.0
town
1.0
small town
245 1.5
village
1.0
hamlet
24 5.0

Surface Forms

small town singular
small towns plural

Morphology

small + town

The meaning 'a community smaller than a typical town' is directly and transparently constructed from 'small' (limited in size) plus 'town' (a settlement). This adjective+noun composition follows a common compositional pattern across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Small town comes from the simple picture of a small place with one main town street, a few shops and where most people know each other. So, it means a 'community' that is smaller and less busy than a city.