small-town
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of a town or village.
a typical, small-town general store.
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provincial or unsophisticated.
small-town manners.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of small-town
First recorded in 1880–85
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.
Steve Henson grew up in small-town Nebraska, made his way to California and left for Alaska to be a plumbing contractor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Hollywood was founded by daredevils, from the cowboys who galloped here to become stuntmen, to the small-town girls who bucked the pressure to get married and moved west to chase a one-in-a-million dream.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Moments like this, or when Allman mentions friends having kids or missing small-town Alabama, looked to some fans like quiet opposition to her career.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
You write that she is “helicopter-dumping cash” from her perch as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, funding things like diabetes research and small-town breakwaters across Maine.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
Because if you want to be a small-town girl in U. Valley, that’s what you say.
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
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.
