rhizoverbBeta
DictionarylocalePlace or setting
noun

locale

loh-KAL/ləʊˈkæl/

The specific place and regional setting of an activity.

The small cafe serves as the locale for this film scene.

A film scene takes place at a small cafe set while a camera operator frames it; the physical place of the event is the focus, with minimal furnishings.
Etymology
localeFrenchplace, scene

French local meant a place or scene, especially considered with its surrounding circumstances. That emphasis makes a locale not just a position, but the setting where something happens.

In context

Old Time Radio Researchers18:00
wait for me now the locale of our play is Boston Massachusetts in the year 1870 the scene is the little Attic laboratory where we find professor bail and his assistant mr. Harris
Jack Benny - JB 1939-05-28 Alexander Graham Bell

More examples

  • The novel shifts between rural and urban locales.
  • They choose a lakeside locale for their wedding.
  • Changing the software's locale updates its date and number formats.

Forms

locale · locales

Similar words

setting
Emphasizes the surroundings and circumstances in which something happens.
location
Identifies where something is, without necessarily suggesting regional character.