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• village
  village

  noun

  a small community or group of houses in a rural area, larger than a hamlet and usually smaller than a town, and sometimes (as in parts of the U.S.) incorporated as a municipality.
• Village
  Village

  noun

  The, a city in central Oklahoma.

village

¹ American  

[vil-ij] / ˈvɪl ɪdʒ /

noun

• villages
  plural

1. a small community or group of houses in a rural area, larger than a hamlet and usually smaller than a town, and sometimes (as in parts of the U.S.) incorporated as a municipality.

2. the inhabitants of such a community collectively.

3. a group of animal dwellings resembling a village.

   a gopher village.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a village.

   village life.

Village ² American  

[vil-ij] / ˈvɪl ɪdʒ /

noun

1. The, a city in central Oklahoma.

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village British  

/ ˈvɪlɪdʒ /

noun

1. a small group of houses in a country area, larger than a hamlet

2. the inhabitants of such a community collectively

3. an incorporated municipality smaller than a town in various parts of the US and Canada

4. a group of habitats of certain animals

5. a self-contained city area having its own shops, etc

6. (modifier) of, relating to, or characteristic of a village

   a village green

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Synonym Usage

See community.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intervillage
  adjective
• village-like
  adjective
• villageless
  adjective
• villagey
  adjective
• villagy
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• villages
  plural

Etymology

Origin of village

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin villāticum, neuter of villāticus villatic

Explanation

A village is a place where people live that's smaller than a city or town. The village where your grandparents live might have a population of only a few hundred people. In the US, some towns, townships, and cities have smaller villages communities within them. There are also villages that are independent of any larger areas. In either case, a village is typically larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town. The majority of Indians live in villages, while in other countries (like Russia and the UK) population has moved to big cities and suburbs, away from traditional villages. The Latin source of village is villa, or "farm."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

village Village villages

The project has given women in the village a sense of independence, said the 36-year-old part-time nursing assistant, whose husband works abroad.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

"I voted to leave the United Kingdom," 76-year-old Piddington resident Herbert Owen, told AFP during the vote, saying it felt like the government did not "care" about the bucolic village in the Oxfordshire countryside.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

Volunteer efforts had been co-ordinated from Brantham Leisure Centre and the village hall, which ran out of hi-vis vests due to the number of volunteers.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

If built, a wire-fenced encampment a 15-minute walk from the village will become home to the asylum seekers, who would be free to come and go as they please.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

After that I walked to the village every day, even though it would be at least a week before a gnome came back with a message.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

Originally from Bulgaria, they have lived on the island for more than 14 years and have run a cafe in the town's Village Walk area for the last three.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

In Kansas, Prairie Village Detective Ryan Warkentin is tracking similar cases, including a jury-duty rip-off that netted nearly $600,000.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

That leaves the courts at Waterside Shared Village, where, the club said, even the line markings are showing their age.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

While her Tribeca pad was undergoing renovation, she resided in a West Village townhouse, which she reportedly paid $38,000 a month to live in from 2016 until 2017.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026

I set my tools aside and walked alone down The Mountain and through The Village.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

For now, Borneo Futures has funding secured through 2028, and two more villages will join next month.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

"You get messages from people from those villages: 'You betrayed us. You didn't come...' But if I go, I may risk the life of the driver."

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

Mallorca’s sun-drenched beaches and hilltop villages have been a popular hangout for foreign writers, artists and musicians for more than a century.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

The floods, which destroyed entire villages near the border of Nepal and Tibet, severely damaged 12 hydropower plants in the Trishuli River basin and knocked out more than 10% of Nepal's total power generation capacity.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

He enlisted five Haitians who were his age—he required that each had at least one year of junior high school—to go from hut to hut in Cange and two neighboring villages.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Related Words

• center
• suburb