Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A woman who is a resident of a town.
  • noun A woman who is a fellow resident of one's town.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A woman who is a resident of a town, especially of one's own town.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From towns +‎ woman, from townsman.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word townswoman.

Examples

  • The famous rogue elephant Black Diamond killed several times, but it was not until he murdered an innocent townswoman in front of hundreds of witnesses that he was executed.

    CAT MAN by Edward Hoagland (Signet 1958) 2010

  • The famous rogue elephant Black Diamond killed several times, but it was not until he murdered an innocent townswoman in front of hundreds of witnesses that he was executed.

    Archive 2010-01-24 2010

  • Yet colleagues who emphasize higher education's wondrous work turning adolescents into cultured adults remind me of the exaggerated Oxbridge arrogance memorably parodied in the story of a student accosted by a townswoman outside his college.

    Peter Kaufman: Deliberation, Education ... and Immigration 2008

  • When at 3: 00 am a townswoman walked up to Anderson Cooper and told him -- live -- that he had been reporting a false miracle this showed, according to Klein, the strength's of CNN.

    Jay Rosen: Wrong When the Governor is Wrong: A Small Detail in the Mis-reporting of the Miners' Deaths 2008

  • Here lies the great difference between two women; the townswoman is certainly virtuous; the lady does not know yet whether she is, or whether she always will be; she hesitates and struggles where the other refuses point-blank and falls full length.

    Another Study of a Woman 2007

  • Thus, townswoman Askoli Picheno, located in the country centre, it is necessary to give birth twice.

    UPDATE 2 - Hillary's Text Message Campaign (And Teen Pregnancy Clinics?) 2007

  • Some relate that Chryseis was taken from Hypoplacian 240 Thebes, and that she had not taken refuge there nor gone there to sacrifice to Artemis, as the author of the “Cypria” states, but was simply a fellow townswoman of Andromache.

    Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, and Homerica 2007

  • Here lies the great difference between two women; the townswoman is certainly virtuous; the lady does not know yet whether she is, or whether she always will be; she hesitates and struggles where the other refuses point-blank and falls full length.

    Another Study of a Woman 2007

  • Now the townswoman laid her hand on the latch of the door that was hers, and threw the door open; then she put forth her palm to the other, and said: Wilt thou give me the first gold now, since rest is made sure for thee, as long as thou wilt?

    The Water of the Wondrous Isles 2007

  • She was quite a recognized townswoman, and though the dancing branch of her profession was perhaps a trifle worldly, she was really a serious-minded lady who, being obliged to live by what she knew how to teach, balanced matters by lending a hand at charitable bazaars, assisting at sacred concerts, and giving musical recitations in aid of funds for bewildering happy savages, and other such enthusiasms of this enlightened country.

    Life's Little Ironies 2006

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.