Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
noun
An idealized, close-knit small-town community.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A situation in which everyone is thought to be above average or exceptionally successful.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
From the name of the fictional town Lake Wobegon, created by Garrison Keillor as the setting of the recurring segment “News from Lake Wobegon” for the radio program A Prairie Home Companion, aired live from 1974 to 2016 from Saint Paul, Minnesota. The figurative senses derive from recurrent elements of the monologue, specifically “the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve” and “Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average”.
