placename

or place-name, place name

[ pleys-neym ]

/ ˈpleɪsˌneɪm /

Save This Word!

noun

the name given to or held by a geographical location, as a town, city, village, etc.

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of placename

First recorded in 1865–70; place + name

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use placename in a sentence

There is an expanded place-name index with more than 150,000 entries, and separate undersea, Moon, and Mars features.
The Best Coffee Table Books of 2014|Robert Birnbaum|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
DAKOTA is a unisex name in the wide-open Western place name mode.
Top 20 Dog Names of the Future|Linda Rosenkrantz|February 14, 2010|DAILY BEAST
So the bullet that Gavrilo Princip fired at old Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo (a redolent place-name) goes on echoing.
Lessons from Another War|Christopher Buckley|November 12, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The place-name Rothwell, anciently Rodewelle, is no doubt with reason assumed to be “well of the rood or cross”.
Archaic England|Harold Bayley

Whenever we find man in an early place-name, we can feel pretty sure that it has no reference to the human species.
The Cornwall Coast|Arthur L. Salmon
The spread and the vitality of the place-name Rome were even greater than the vogue of the title Csar.
The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind|Herbert George Wells
A place name on the Pacific coast; sandy beach and arid tropical scrub forest.
The Amphibians and Reptiles of Michoacn, Mxico|William E. Duellman
There is nothing that it enjoys more than to have a Minister struggling with the pronunciation of some outlandish place-name.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, March 31, 1920|Various

British Dictionary definitions for placename

place name

noun

the name of a geographical location, such as a town or area

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