Meanings
- not comparablerareOf or pertaining to a town or conurbation.
... calculating the portions of the population, which are purely oppidan, suburban and rural, separately, ...
1843, George Calvert Holland, The Vital Statistics of Sheffield, page 1062 more examples
In terms of socio-economic impact, it appears that the water mill was an oppidan development in the Roman possessions, including Dacia.
1982, Ion Miclea, Corneliu Bucur, An Ages-old CivilizationThe beggar whom Elia encounters... is an oppidan caricature of the old man in “Witches” who was conjured up in the demonic vision, a dark, irrational double that overwhelms and destroys innocence.
1984, Gerald Cornelius Monsman, Confessions of a Prosaic Dreamer: Charles Lamb's art of autobiography, →ISBN, page 78
plural oppidans
- also OppidanA class of student in traditional English public schools such as Eton; opposed to colleger or King's Scholar.
... might conceivably imply that he did not live, as the custom had been for such boys, in the Abbot's own house, but lodged in the town of Winchester and perhaps attended the College as an oppidan, or townsman.
1983, Bridget Boland, Muriel St. Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, →ISBN, page 96
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Cite this entry
oppidan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oppidan
“oppidan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oppidan. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oppidan,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oppidan.
Source: oppidan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.