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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

Etymology

Origin of main street

First recorded in 1735–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

main street Main Street

“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

At their home, a large one-story villa off a dirt road leading to the town’s main street, Scott introduces me to a lifestyle designed to promote wellness.

From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2026

The mural would be Bolding’s first public piece of art on a main street.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026

Andresen, riding for Decathlon CMA CGM, surged to the front in the main street of Tanunda, near Adelaide.

From Barron's ● Jan. 21, 2026

It was pretty, but Dicey was not cheered by that as they walked out of town on the one main street.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

Trading yield to chase those clients’ business is certainly a gamble for Main Street banks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

On a drizzly morning in June, all was still on Tuskegee's South Main Street, a two-lane road that runs into the heart of the town square, where a towering Confederate monument loomed over the emptiness.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

But Main Street might be turning to Netflix’s rivals.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

Located above the Main Street Bakery, the window is a lasting tribute to a family who made some of the park’s magic possible.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

From Town Square to Main Street, from Main Street past the park, past the park toward that steep hill leading to Fry High.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles