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• main street
  main street

  noun

  the principal thoroughfare, especially through the business district, in a small town.
• Main Street
  Main Street

  noun

  a novel (1920) by Sinclair Lewis.

main street

¹ American  

noun

• main streets
  plural

1. the principal thoroughfare, especially through the business district, in a small town.

2. (initial capital letters) the outlook, environment, or life of a small town.

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Main Street ² American  

noun

1. a novel (1920) by Sinclair Lewis.

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Main Street British  

noun

1. the most prominent street of a town, usually where the principal shops and businesses are situated

2. ordinary people in general

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• main streets
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of main street

First recorded in 1735–45

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

main street Main Street

On Monday evening, a midnight release event was held in The Secret Bookshelf, an independent bookshop just off the town's main street.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

Police patrolled Doonbeg's main street this week as preparations intensified for what security sources have described as one of the most complex security operations ever mounted in Ireland.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

Carmel has become a jewel box of a town, with a main street, Ocean Avenue, that runs right down to the beach and sea.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

“I always said I would never come back to Northeast Ohio. I was over the cold and the winter,” she said one evening while hosting a women’s-club happy hour on Hudson’s main street.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026

Cat stalked to the main street and saw a tourist family and a woman with a jogging stroller.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

Further down Main Street, Claire Austin runs Silverland with Passion, her family jewellery business.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

But even on Main Street, regional banks’ core lending to manufacturing and construction firms is also picking up along with AI capital expenditures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

There’s a saying on Main Street that recent stock-price action suggests investors on Wall Street are starting to believe — you get what you pay for.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026

The Great Redwood Trail would follow the railroad tracks that parallel Loleta’s small Main Street, passing between a public park and a string of local shops, a post office, and a church.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026

Roberto picked me up after school, and we drove directly to Main Street School to clean it.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

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