department store
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of department store
An Americanism dating back to 1885–90
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.
More concrete buildings came tumbling down during the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake of 1994, causing the partial collapse of a Kaiser Permanente building and a Bullock’s department store.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 25, 2026
Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett and the late Vice Chairman Charlie Munger famously regretted their decision to buy a department store.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026
High-end department store Fortnum & Mason is selling its own a short walk away.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 1, 2026
She said she used to purchase fabrics from the luxury department store Liberty London and her mother-in-law bought her a sewing machine and encouraged her to sew.
From BBC • May 30, 2026
The businesses here are hangers-on, relics from about twenty years ago—a sad and very old department store, a shoe store that smells like mothballs, a toy store, a candy shop, an ice cream parlor.
From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven
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.
