township

[toun-ship]

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noun

a unit of local government, usually a subdivision of a county, found in most midwestern and northeastern states of the U.S. and in most Canadian provinces.

(in U.S. surveys of public land) a region or district approximately 6 miles square (93.2 sq. km), containing 36 sections.

English History.

one of the local divisions or districts of a large parish, each containing a village or small town, usually with a church of its own.
the manor, parish, etc., itself.
its inhabitants.

(in Australia)

a small town or settlement serving as the business center of a rural area.
the business center of a town or suburb.

(in South Africa) a segregated residential settlement for blacks, located outside a city or town.

Origin of township

before 900; Middle English tounship community, Old English tūnscipe village community. See town, -ship

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for township

sector, city, square, neighborhood, zone, locality, section, county, field, state, territory, township, town, metropolis, district, community, village, province, land, area

Examples from the Web for township

Contemporary Examples of township

You stand on an unsteady pontoon bridge spanning the Tigris River in a township called Adh Dhouloueya.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in Iraq
Nathan Bradley Bethea
August 31, 2014
At a township rally near Johannesburg, she boasted: “With our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country.”
Mandela: The Miracle Maker
Sam Seibert
December 5, 2013
Lake Success, a township on Long Island, was home to the United Nations long before it moved to its iconic eastside headquarters.
Mr. President, Don’t Forget The Nakba
Yousef Munayyer
March 19, 2013
Biography Mo Yan was born to a family of farmers in the Gaomi township in Shandong province in northeastern China.
60 Second Guide to Mo Yan: 2012 Winner of Nobel Prize for Literature
The Daily Beast
October 11, 2012

Historical Examples of township

The neighborhood, the township, and the world had been snowed in.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown
The township of Cleveland, of the county of Trumbull, was organized in 1800.
Cleveland Past and Present
Maurice Joblin
There are a door and two windows, the latter having been bought at the township.
Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2)
William Delisle Hay
He's the chairman here, and he has township chairmen appointed for every township.
Stories of a Western Town
Octave Thanet
This admiration and regard has extended to the fair daughters of the township.
The Depot Master
Joseph C. Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for township

township

noun

a small town

(in the Scottish Highlands and islands) a small crofting community

(in the US and Canada) a territorial area, esp a subdivision of a county: often organized as a unit of local government

(formerly, in South Africa) a planned urban settlement of Black Africans or Coloured peopleCompare location (def. 4)

English history

any of the local districts of a large parish, each division containing a village or small town
the particular manor or parish itself as a territorial division
the inhabitants of a township collectively

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

Word Origin and History for township

Old English tunscipe "inhabitants or population of a town." Applied in Middle English to "manor, parish, or other division of a hundred." Specific sense of "local division or district in a parish, each with a village or small town and its own church" is from 1530s; as a local municipal division of a county in U.S. and Canada, first recorded 1685.