What does townhouse mean?
A townhouse is a dwelling in a town or other urban area, especially one of a row of attached houses. In North American English, the term often evokes a narrow, multistorey city residence, sometimes an upscale one, and is close to row house or terraced house. In British English, it can carry a more specific social and historical meaning: the town residence of someone who also owns a country house, traditionally associated with wealth and seasonal urban life. The word also broadly covers fashionable urban houses, so a townhouse need not imply either attachment to neighboring buildings or a country-house connection. These nuances explain why context and regional background matter: townhouse can describe ordinary housing, a recognizable urban architectural type, or a prestigious residence. It is a useful term because it places the dwelling firmly in an urban setting and, in British usage, can carry connotations of status, tradition, and contrast with a rural home.
nounA townhouse is a house in a town or urban area, often one of a row of attached houses. In British usage, it can also refer to a town residence maintained by someone who owns a country house.
- A house situated in a town or urban area, especially one of several attached or closely spaced houses.
- In British English, a person's town residence when they also own or occupy a country house, often with traditional associations of wealth and status.
"They restored the narrow brick townhouse while preserving its original sash windows."
"The tour passed elegant townhouses that had been converted into offices."
"For the London season, the family occupied its townhouse and spent weekends at the country estate."
The regular plural takes the ending -s.
"A row of townhouses lines the historic district."
In Britain, a townhouse can be the town address of someone whose real claim to fame is the country house they escape when urban life becomes tiresome.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does townhouse come from?
The compound townhouse dates from the 17th century and combines town with house. Its components come from Old English: tun, meaning an enclosure, homestead, or settlement, and hus, meaning a dwelling. The compound originally denoted a house in a town, in contrast to a rural or country house, and later acquired the more specific British sense of a wealthy person's urban residence.
How townhouse is actually used
In North American English, townhouse often means an attached or closely spaced urban house and may suggest an upscale residence. In British English, it is frequently spelled townhouse but may also appear as town house, and it can denote a fashionable multistorey urban residence or the town counterpart of a country house.
Easily confused with townhouse
A townhome is chiefly a North American term for an attached urban house, while townhouse is the more established term and can also have the distinct British meaning of a country-house owner's town residence.