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Synonyms

department store

American  

noun

  1. a large retail store carrying a wide variety of merchandise and organized into various departments for sales and administrative purposes.

department store British  

noun

  1. a large shop divided into departments selling a great many kinds of goods

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

La Perla will hold such an event at Harrods department store in London in May.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026

Sarah said she had thought it was "her lucky day" when she was introduced to Mohamed Al Fayed during her job interview to work at the luxury department store.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

Get thee to a department store for some soft furnishings.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 3, 2026

Left to talk, Jacobs whirls through stories of past, present and future: anecdotes about his grandmother planning her lunch spot around which department store she’d spend the day at, and memories of Bob Fosse films.

From Salon • Mar. 27, 2026

They walked very quietly across the grey carpets of the department store, towards School Outfitting, and the rooms smelled of perfume and new cloth.

From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill

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.