downtown
noun · adjective · adverb
Simple meaning
The central area or commercial center of a town or city.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
downtownSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdaʊnˈtaʊn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The central area or commercial center of a town or city
chiefly uscanada
The main business part of a city or town, usually located at or near its center.
adjective
Of, relating to, or situated in the central business district.
adverb
In or towards the central business district.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The central area or commercial center of a town or city
Used this way, downtown is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use downtown
- “Let's meet for lunch at that new cafe downtown next Tuesday.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- minneapolisnoun
- portlandnoun
- waterfrontnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: central area or commercial center of a town
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.