locality
Americannoun
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localities
plural
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a place, spot, or district, with or without reference to things or persons in it or to occurrences there.
They moved to another locality.
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the state or fact of being local or having a location.
the locality that every material object must have.
noun
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a neighbourhood or area
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the site or scene of an event
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the fact or condition of having a location or position in space
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of locality
From the Late Latin word locālitās, dating back to 1620–30. See local, -ity
Explanation
Use the noun locality when you need an official-sounding way to say "area" or "region." For example, you might say, "I am so pleased to finally have a doughnut shop in my locality." You're most likely to come across the word locality in a news story or business report. It's a formal way to talk about a neighborhood or a section of town. The mayor might make a speech about crime in a particular locality, or the prevalence of potholes in another locality. The word has been in use since the 1700's, from the Latin word localis, "relating to or belonging to a place."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Thinking about that really, really influenced my approach to these pieces in terms of trying to collapse in each piece the timescales of historical influences and contemporary identity, but also the locality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
The site is also close to Sidi Abderrahmane, a landmark locality for Middle Pleistocene archaeology in Northwest Africa.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2026
No other government uses this system—no locality, no state, no country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
There’s a value in locality, too; showing now, for example, not just what country the beans are from, but also what farm they’re grown on and what grade they are.
From Slate ● Dec. 22, 2025
In Western music, the grouping of notes into families began with the Ancient Greeks, who gave each of the note-families, which they called tonoi or harmoniai, the name of a certain tribe or locality.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Shanmugam characterized Boulder’s case as “unprecedented,” and argued that the Constitution does not permit individual localities to “use state law to regulate global conduct.”
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2026
As another, he said the new rules could penalize immigrant families for accessing basic, preventative healthcare that actually helps control the broader public cost of illness to localities and states.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
If changing climate means that certain foodstuffs can no longer be produced in their traditional localities, then the idea of terroir will be stretched to its limits.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Remnants of the old blue laws remain in some American states or localities where regulations place restrictions on the retail sale of alcohol on Sundays or—idiosyncratically—prohibit auto dealers from selling cars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
In the fall of 1958, Virginia’s governor Lindsay Almond chained the doors of the schools in localities that attempted to comply with the Supreme Court’s Brown decision.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
