What does "local" mean?
A person who lives in or near a given place.
Local
/ˈləʊ.kl̩/ adj, adv, noun, slang
adj, adv, noun, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A person who lives in or near a given place.
- Grammar: local is listed as adj, adv, noun, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: abadan, aboriginal, aborigine, adirondack.
- Useful contrasts: directional, african continent, arterial.
- Usage evidence: Many local traditions have fallen into decay in recent years.
How to use "local"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "local" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "local" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "local" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "local" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "local" is acting as adj, adv, noun, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abadan" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "local", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A person who lives in or near a given place.
"It's easy to tell the locals from the tourists."
- 2 public transport consisting of a bus or train that stops at all stations or stops wordnet
- 3 A branch of a nationwide organization such as a trade union.
"I'm in the TWU, too. Local 6."
- 4 anesthetic that numbs a particular area of the body wordnet
- 5 Clipping of local train. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping
"The expresses skipped my station, so I had to take a local."
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 One's nearest or regularly frequented public house or bar. British
"I got barred from my local, so I've started going all the way into town for a drink."
- 7 A locally scoped identifier.
"Functional programming languages usually don't allow changing the immediate value of locals once they've been initialized, unless they're explicitly marked as being mutable."
- 8 An item of news relating to the place where the newspaper is published. US, slang
- 9 Clipping of local anesthetic. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial
"Well, Mr. Dalton, you may add nine staples to your dossier of thirty‐one broken bones, two bullet wounds, nine puncture wounds and four steel screws. That’s an estimate, of course. I’ll give you a local."
- 10 An independent trader who acts for themselves rather than on behalf of investors.
"On most futures exchanges, there are two major types of futures traders/members: commission brokers and locals."
- 11 A Twitter user who is not a part of Stan Twitter. derogatory, slang
"Her camera roll is filled with pictures and videos of her idol, she doesn't let any of her friends see her account because "no locals allowed", […]"
Adjective
- 1 From or in a nearby location.
"We prefer local produce."
- 2 Connected directly to a particular computer, processor, etc.; able to be accessed offline.
"local disk drive"
- 3 Having limited scope (either lexical or dynamic); only accessible within a certain portion of a program.
- 4 Applying to or satisfied by substructures understood as "near points;" in particular:; Satisfied by at least one open neighborhood of every point. not-comparable
"A Hausdorff space satisfying local compactness need not be (globally) compact!"
- 5 Applying to or satisfied by substructures understood as "near points;" in particular:; Satisfied by arbitrarily small open neighborhoods of every point. not-comparable
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 Applying to or satisfied by substructures understood as "near points;" in particular:; Satisfied by every finitely generated subgroup. not-comparable
- 7 Detectable from the behavior of substructures understood to be "near points;" in particular:; Such that the following conditions are equivalent: (1) P holds for R (M); (2) P holds for the localization R_p (M_p) for all prime ideals p of R; (3) P holds for the localization R_m (M_m) for all maximal ideals m of R. not-comparable
"Flatness is a local property."
- 8 Detectable from the behavior of substructures understood to be "near points;" in particular:; Detectable from the behavior of the normalizers of the nontrivial p-subgroups. not-comparable
- 9 Having a unique maximal (left) ideal.
- 10 Of or pertaining to a restricted part of an organism.
"local lesion"
- 11 Descended from an indigenous population.
"Hawaiian Pidgin is spoken by the local population."
Adjective
- 1 relating to or applicable to or concerned with the administration of a city or town or district rather than a larger area wordnet
- 2 affecting only a restricted part or area of the body wordnet
- 3 of or belonging to or characteristic of a particular locality or neighborhood wordnet
Adverb
- 1 In the local area; within a city, state, country, etc.
"It's never been more important to buy local."
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Many local traditions have fallen into decay in recent years."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "local"?
Common synonyms include: abadan, aboriginal, aborigine, adirondack, adjective of origin, adjoining.
How do you use "local" in a sentence?
Many local traditions have fallen into decay in recent years.
How do you pronounce "local"?
Pronounced /ˈləʊ.kl̩/.
Etymology
From Middle English local, from Late Latin locālis (“belonging to a place”), possibly also via Old French local; ultimately from Latin locus (“a place”). The ring-theoretic senses derive from Krull, who first referred to Noetherian commutative rings with a unique maximal ideal as "Stellenring" (Stellen (“place”) + ring) in 1938. The term was inspired by algebraic geometry, where local rings encode information about the behavior of curves (surfaces, etc.) at points; hence, describe "local" behavior.