township

noun

town·​ship ˈtau̇n-ˌship 

1

a

: town sense 5

b

: a unit of local government in some northeastern and north central states usually having a chief administrative officer or board

c

: an unorganized subdivision of the county in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont

d

: an electoral and administrative district of the county in the southern U.S.

2

: a division of territory in surveys of U.S. public land containing 36 sections or 36 square miles

3

: an area in the Republic of South Africa that was segregated under apartheid for occupation by persons of non-European descent

4

: an ancient unit of administration in England identical in area with or a division of a parish

Examples of township in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Status: State site funding passed; township idea stalled. —Olivia Olander, Chicago Tribune, 5 June 2025

The township officials strung Zhou along for months, then years. —Barbara Demick, New Yorker, 23 May 2025

The Affordable Housing Alliance, a nonprofit that rents office space on the property, requested permission from township zoning officials to build a 17-bed shelter there months ago. —Tracey Tully, New York Times, 21 May 2025

He was roasted by his party for negotiating with local Democrats to give them a seat on the township board in exchange for keeping the GOP majority, a move that looks shrewd today. —Justin Kaufmann, Axios, 9 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 4

Kids Definition

township

noun

town·​ship ˈtau̇n-ˌship 

1

: a unit of local government in some northeastern and north central states

2

: a division of territory in surveys of U.S. public land containing 36 square miles (about 93 square kilometers)