downtown
Americanadverb
adjective
noun
-
downtowns
plural
noun
adverb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of downtown
Explanation
Downtown is the area of a city that's the busiest, with the most shops, restaurants, buildings, and pedestrians. You can usually take a bus, train, or subway to get around downtown. The widespread use of downtown probably started in New York City during the early 19th century. The original city hub was located at the southern tip of Manhattan, and as development proceeded northward, New Yorkers began to distinguish between downtown and uptown. In many cities today, downtown doesn't refer to the southern area of the city, just its heart or center.
Vocabulary lists containing downtown
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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:
Executives were trying to solve a puzzle: They could see some clients in Chicago’s affluent North Shore suburbs weren’t buying from the downtown Chicago store.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
The trip to Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park, which included a ferry ride from downtown Seattle, was about 115 miles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Those properties reportedly include Parton’s Nashville home, museum, warehouse, and a downtown residence.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
On Thursday, CNN, MS NOW and Politico appeared in a downtown Washington court to urge a federal judge to extend their White House access.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
“When the weather was clear,” one Washington Emergency Services staffer reported, “the road up to the mountain looked like downtown Seattle at rush hour.”
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
He previously covered commercial real estate and America’s changing downtowns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
In addition, “many condo buildings are located in urban downtowns, which are less attractive than they used to be for people who now work from home at least part-time,” the paper reported.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 14, 2026
"Carriers really appreciate Freightera's reliable demand for service, which has grown every year consistently, right through Covid, the inflation afterwards and the current freight recession, one of the largest running freight downtowns," he says.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2025
Advocates for flagging downtowns would like to change the rules to make it easier to convert office buildings into apartments.
From Slate ● Feb. 28, 2025
Even the brick buildings in the ramshackle little downtowns we drive past seem crisp in this light.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
