small-town

[ smawl-toun ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a town or village:

   a typical, small-town general store.

2. provincial or unsophisticated:

   small-town manners.

Other Words From

• small-towner noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of small-town¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

An Orange County congressional race that has become the closest in the country currently has such a slim margin of victory that it feels more like a small-town city council contest than a race for the House of Representatives.

From Los Angeles Times

In the closing weeks of the campaign, Bill Clinton showed her how to do this in his appearances in small-town areas in swing states, but Harris missed the cue.

From Salon

A small-town kid born out of wedlock, he moved from the rustic countryside of Vinci, 30 miles west of Florence, to the sophisticated city to make his way.

From Los Angeles Times

You might think of Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” while watching “I Like Movies,” with its small-town teenage angst and sardonic wit, but there are shades of “Punch-Drunk Love” here, too: The writer-director Chandler Levack’s script allows his character no easy outs, leaning hard into the bitter part of bittersweet.

From New York Times

Rouki Sasaki, a small-town 17-year-old high school senior, has a triple-digit fastball.

From Los Angeles Times