local

American  

[loh-kuhl] / ˈloʊ kəl /

adjective

1. pertaining to or characterized by place or position in space; spatial.

2. pertaining to, characteristic of, or restricted to a particular place or particular places.

   a local custom.

3. pertaining to a city, town, or small district rather than an entire state or country.

   local transportation.

4. stopping at most or all stations.

   a local train.

5. pertaining to or affecting a particular part or particular parts, as of a physical system or organism.

   a local disease.

6. Medicine/Medical. (of anesthesia or an anesthetic) affecting only a particular part or area of the body, without concomitant loss of consciousness, as distinguished from general anesthesia.

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noun

• locals
  plural

1. a local train, bus, etc.

2. a newspaper item of local interest.

3. a local branch of a union, fraternity, etc.

4. a local anesthetic.

5. Often locals.

   1. a local person or resident.

      primarily of interest to locals.

   2. a local athletic team.

      the locals versus the state champions.

6. stamp.

7. British Informal. a neighborhood pub.

verb (used without object)

1. Informal. to travel by or take a local train or the like.

local British  

/ ˈləʊkəl /

adjective

1. characteristic of or associated with a particular locality or area

2. of, concerned with, or relating to a particular place or point in space

3. med of, affecting, or confined to a limited area or part Compare general systemic

4. (of a train, bus, etc) stopping at all stations or stops

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noun

1. a train, bus, etc, that stops at all stations or stops

2. an inhabitant of a specified locality

3. informal a pub close to one's home or place of work

4. med short for local anaesthetic

5. an item of local interest in a newspaper

6. a local or regional branch of an association

7. a telephone extension

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• localness
  noun
• interlocal
  adjective
• nonlocal
  adjective
• superlocal
  adjective
• unlocal
  adjective
• interlocally
  adverb
• nonlocally
  adverb
• superlocally
  adverb
• unlocally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• locals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of local

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English word from Late Latin word locālis. See locus, -al ¹

Explanation

The adjective local describes something related a specific place. The potholes on a certain street in Pringle, Pennsylvania, might merit a story in the local newspaper. Locate, location, locale — they all look and sound like local thanks to the Latin root locus, which means "place." Something that's local is limited to a specific place, like a particular neighborhood or city. Local also can describe places that aren't, well, places — they're more like areas. For example, a dentist might administer a local anesthetic to numb your mouth when filling a cavity. That means the anesthetic acts only on a specific area of the body.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

local locals

And local officials who normally update constituents on the sideline of a football game now say they are legally barred from sharing what they know.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

But there may be another reason, too, said Jim Farrar, director of the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program: State laws and local ordinances that have banned certain rodenticides could be inadvertently fueling typhoid outbreaks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

When the Civil War broke out, the area revealed itself to be “a border county in a border state,” as the local historical museum puts it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

“These aren’t factory farms. This is real amazing quality local food,” said Bronte Edwards, a Sonoma County-based sheep farmer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Michelle and I go up to the podium to claim our prize—gift certificates to a local bookstore.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

During his visit, Putin sampled fish roe and spoke to island locals, Russian state media reported.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

High gold prices are pushing mining companies to expand production, drawing them into tense conflicts with locals and environmental groups across the American west.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Weary of venomous snake bites, British authorities put a bounty on dead cobras — but this only incentivized locals to breed more of the snakes, in order to collect even more reward money.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

The Malaysian Meteorological Department urged locals to stay indoors, with director-general Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip blaming a "cross-border haze phenomenon from Kalimantan."

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

He reached a large stream, of the kind the locals called a creek and pronounced crick, and decided to follow it.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

Related Words

• provincial
• regional