Oppidan

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A town dweller. obsolete, rare

    "But money is all-potent, and wealthy oppidans soon found means to elbow the aristocracy in their choicest assemblies."

  2. 2
    A class of student in traditional English public schools such as Eton; opposed to colleger or King's Scholar.

    "... might conceivably imply that he did not live, as the custom had been for such boys, in the Abbot's own house, but lodged in the town of Winchester and perhaps attended the College as an oppidan, or townsman."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to a town or conurbation. not-comparable, rare

    "... calculating the portions of the population, which are purely oppidan, suburban and rural, separately, ..."

Synonyms

All synonyms
bourgeoisburghercitizencitycity dwellercity slicker

Example

More examples

"... calculating the portions of the population, which are purely oppidan, suburban and rural, separately, ..."

Etymology

From Latin oppidanus, from oppidum (“town”).

Related phrases

king's scholarpublic school

More for "oppidan"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.