Phrase guide

Main Street

name · noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Pronunciation

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1

name

Meaning 1

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Near-synonym: High Street (esp. UK)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: High Street

Antonyms: none provided

2

name

Meaning 2

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, US, collective, idiomatic

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: High Street (UK); precariat, proletariat, working class, middle class

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: common man, everyman, High Street, precariat, proletariat, working class, middle class

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Invercargill in New Zealand has two main streets, Dee Street and Tay Street.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

street that serves as a principal thoroughfare for traffic in a town

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: high street

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: street

Narrower terms: main drag

5

noun

Meaning 5

any small town (or the people who inhabit it); generally used to represent parochialism and materialism (after a novel by Sinclair Lewis)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Main Street will never vote for a liberal politician

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: town

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

30 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: Главна улица (Glavna ulica) — generic name of a primary street
  • Finnish: valtakatu — generic name of a primary street
  • French: rue principale — generic name of a primary street
  • German: Hauptstraße — generic name of a primary street
  • German: Dorfstraße — generic name of a primary street
  • Northern Kurdish: rêya serekî — generic name of a primary street
  • Māori: waharoa — generic name of a primary street
  • Polish: główna ulica handlowa w mieście — generic name of a primary street
  • Russian: Центральная улица (Centralʹnaja ulica) — generic name of a primary street
  • Swedish: Storgatan — generic name of a primary street
  • Arabic: جَادَّة (jādda) — principal street of a town
  • Bulgarian: главна улица (glavna ulica) — principal street of a town
  • Bulgarian: централна улица (centralna ulica) — principal street of a town
  • Bulgarian: основна улица (osnovna ulica) — principal street of a town
  • Chinese Cantonese: 大街 (daai6 gaai1) — principal street of a town
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大街 (dàjiē) — principal street of a town
  • Danish: hovedgade — principal street of a town
  • Esperanto: ĉefstrato — principal street of a town
  • Farefare: pallɛ — principal street of a town
  • French: grand-rue — principal street of a town
  • French: rue principale — principal street of a town
  • German: Hauptstraße — principal street of a town
  • Hungarian: főutca — principal street of a town
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hovedgate — principal street of a town
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: hovudgate — principal street of a town
  • Old English: hēafodstrǣt — principal street of a town
  • Polish: główna ulica handlowa w mieście — principal street of a town
  • Portuguese: rua principal — principal street of a town
  • Romanian: strada principală — principal street of a town
  • Swedish: huvudgata — principal street of a town