townsman
Americannoun
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a native or inhabitant of a town.
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a native or inhabitant of one's own or the same town.
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(in New England) a selectman.
noun
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an inhabitant of a town
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a person from the same town as oneself
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of townsman
before 1000; Middle English; Old English tūnesman fellow member of a township. See town, 's 1, man
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:
He was watching television when he spotted his fellow townsman, Mr. Johnson.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 31, 2021
A boy and his new friend hatch a plan to save a community of mischievous cavern-dwellers from the villainous townsman who plans to exterminate them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2019
A townsman with a plane jetted to Memphis to buy the team proper cleats.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 20, 2018
A cad, according to one definition, may have been an academy student, or townsman originally - Etonian slang for someone who doesn't quite cut it as a gentleman.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2013
If a townsman suspected that the local miller was cheating him, he could take his flour to another mill.
From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz
It was claimed that townsmen wanted to spare Alice Bailey from testifying in court.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 26, 2021
Hayes, like his L.A. townsmen, was a Southern sympathizer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2021
Like other English monarchs, Elizabeth shared power with Parliament, a legislature that included the House of Lords for nobles and bishops and the House of Commons for members chosen by townsmen and rural landowners.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
“I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of.”
From The Guardian ● Apr. 24, 2017
And I mind the townsmen nattering on, saying we foul the waters.
From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz
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.
