Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

main street

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.96 in modern English

Syllables: main street
IPA

12

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

1

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

The proper name of the main street of any of many villages, towns, or small cities, especially in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and some parts of Scotland.

name

Everyday working-class people and small business owners, especially with regard to their concerns, social views, etc.

Canadian usage; American usage

noun

The principal street, or one of the several principal streets, of a town.

Example Sentences

"Near-synonym: High Street (esp. UK)"
"Near-synonyms: High Street (UK); precariat, proletariat, working class, middle class"
"Main Street will never accept such fashions."
"Thanks to a $700 billion TARP bailout and hundreds of billions of dollars in nearly free of charge loans by the Federal Reserve (a policy Soros himself told me was a "hidden gift" to the banks), Wall Street has surged back to pre-crisis levels of compensation even as Main Street continues to struggle."
"Invercargill in New Zealand has two main streets, Dee Street and Tay Street."
""The Chengtu revolutionaries were fantastically colourful in the Szechwanese manner—they costumed themselves as heroes of the stage and their energies were chiefly occupied in tying ropes across the main streets so that when Imperial officials rode by in their litters they would have to get down and crawl under, losing face."

Etymology

The street name sense is by proprialization from main street. The everyday-people sense is by metonymy.

Usage

Canadian usage
American usage

Inflected Forms

main streets (plural)

Derived Forms

Main mainstreeting SoMa

Phrases

South Main man on the street on the street word on the street Main Street high street main road

Frequently Paired Words

man on the street on the street word on the street Wall Street Bay Street Sand Hill Road high street main road

Synonyms

High Street common man everyman precariat proletariat working class middle class

Questions

What does main street mean?: The proper name of the main street of any of many villages, towns, or small cities, especially in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and some parts of Scotland.
Where does main street come from?: The street name sense is by proprialization from main street. The everyday-people sense is by metonymy.

How to pronounce main street

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