n. Plural form of townsman and townswoman. The population or inhabitants of a village, town or city
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. The inhabitants of a town or city, especially in distinction from country people; townsfolk.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. The inhabitants, collectively, of a town or city; townsfolk, especially in distinction from country folk or the rural population.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. the people living in a municipality smaller than a city
Word Usage
"Although several of the residents of Heronsdene are developed individually as characters, the townspeople are also dominated by an ominous group psychology."