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townspeople

American

[taunz-pee-puhl] / ˈtaʊnzˌpi pəl /

plural noun

the inhabitants or citizenry of a town.
people who were raised in a town or city.

townspeople British

/ ˈtaʊnzˌpiːpəl /

noun

the inhabitants of a town; citizens

"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 townspeople

First recorded in 1640–50; town + 's ¹ + people

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:

townspeople

And it’s not only the townspeople who bear this malice.

From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2026

Martin Best is a doc whose bedside manner could use some TLC, but he came to town hoping he can still practice medicine — that is, if the townspeople would actually do as he says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

Stories abound of local townspeople seeing energy bills soar when they are asked to foot the bill for the infrastructure needed to power new data centres, or finding their already stretched water supplies further diminished.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

Another is a pungent work of terror about a cursed man who inexplicably perishes in the village’s crypt, forcing the townspeople to investigate by disinterring the bodies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Our townspeople wanted to “keep things peaceful” at all costs.

From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023