• adv. 往鬧市區(qū)；在市區(qū)
• adj. 市中心的
• n. 市中心區(qū)；三分線以外

通常認為該詞來自早期紐約市的規(guī)劃，在1830年的時候，紐約城區(qū)集中在曼哈頓島南端，后來，隨著經濟的發(fā)展北擴，而up and down對應于地圖上北和南。后來，downtown就作為市中心的代稱，而uptown則作為居住區(qū)的代稱。

downtown (n.)

1835, from down (adv.) + town. The notion is of suburbs built on heights around a city.

1. There is heavy traffic in the downtown area tonight.

今夜鬧市區(qū)交通繁忙。

來自《權威詞典》

2. a downtown shopping plaza

市中心的購物區(qū)

來自《權威詞典》

3. The city is providing free transportation to the stadium from downtown.

本市現(xiàn)在提供從市中心到體育場的免費交通。

來自《權威詞典》

4. The councillors put the problem of downtown parking before the mayor.

議員們向市長提出了市內停車的問題.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

5. This was, New York apart, the first American city I had ever been in where people actually lived downtown.

除了紐約，這是我到過的第一個人們確實住在市中心的美國城市。

來自柯林斯例句