(US) A company town built by a mining company to house workers at a coal mine.
This reminds me of someone I once met who came from a depressed Northern ex-coal town in England, where he and one of his friends were the only kids to go to college. He was the son of the village doctor and his frien…
# Coal town Coal town Residential towns for employed miners and their families This article is about residential towns for employed miners and their families.
(US) A company town built by a mining company to house workers at a coal mine. These are usually unincorporated communities.
"coal town" means a company town built by a mining company to house workers at a coal mine. It is one of many casual words teens pick up from friends, social media, music or sport, and on its own it carries no particular warning. If you hear your teen use it, it is fair to ask what they mean by it in their friend group, since meanings drift quickly. Asking out of curiosity rather than alarm tends to keep the conversation open and useful.
"coal town" means a company town built by a mining company to house workers at a coal mine. It is one of many casual words teens pick up from friends, social media, music or sport, and on its own it carries no particular warning. If you hear your teen use it, it is fair to ask what they mean by it in their friend group, since meanings drift quickly. Asking out of curiosity rather than alarm tends to keep the conversation open and useful.
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
Add your own interpretation of "coal town".
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Coal Town Fire Still Burns"](https://web.archive.org/web/20121129045230/http://www.aolnews.com/2010/02/05/few-remain-as-1962-fire-still-burns-in-coal-town/). [ABC News (Australia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Ne…
"coal town" is informal English meaning a company town built by a mining company to house workers at a coal mine. It is mainly used in North American English. A more formal or neutral equivalent would be something like "a company town built by a mining company to house workers at a coal mine" expressed in standard vocabulary. A common mistake is to assume "coal town" can replace its standard equivalent in every register; keep it for spoken or casual situations and use the formal form in writing.
“This reminds me of someone I once met who came from a depressed Northern ex-coal town in England, where he and one of his friends were the only kids to go to college. He was the son of the village doctor and his friend's dad won the lottery.”
“# Coal town Coal town Residential towns for employed miners and their families This article is about residential towns for employed miners and their families.”
“Coal Town Fire Still Burns"](https://web.archive.org/web/20121129045230/http://www.aolnews.com/2010/02/05/few-remain-as-1962-fire-still-burns-in-coal-town/). [ABC News (Australia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_News_(Australia) "ABC News (Australia)").”
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(UK) Any of a number of government-sponsored new towns which are intended to achieve exemplary standards of sustainability.