borough

noun

bor·ough ˈbər-(ˌ)ō

ˈbə-(ˌ)rō

Synonyms of borough next

: a medieval fortified group of houses forming a town with special duties and privileges

: a town or urban constituency in Great Britain that sends a member to Parliament

: an urban area in Great Britain incorporated for purposes of self-government

: a municipal corporation proper in some states (such as New Jersey and Minnesota) corresponding to the incorporated town or village of the other states

: one of the five constituent political divisions of New York City

: a civil division of the state of Alaska corresponding to a county in most other states

Examples of borough in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Tricia Shimamura spends her days crisscrossing the city as the director of community affairs for Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president. —

Jackie Cooperman, New York Times, 18 Nov. 2023 Richards was no longer borough mayor at the time, having lost reelection in 2018. —

Kyle Hopkins, ProPublica, 11 Nov. 2023 Spitting for her home borough, Brooke closed out the night with fire. —

Rolling Stone, 11 Nov. 2023 The current borough president’s office does not have a position like the one held by Ms. Abbasova, according to Ms. Naplatarski. —

Nicole Hong, New York Times, 16 Nov. 2023 Adams, who was Brooklyn borough president at the time, had won the Democratic primary but was not yet elected mayor. —

Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 12 Nov. 2023 Add Personal Touches Seeing familiar faces along the course was one of my favorite parts of the race—but the aforementioned words of encouragement were almost constant during my five-and-a-half-hour trek through the five boroughs. —

Katie Henwood, Vogue, 10 Nov. 2023 Jones was cheered on during the 26.2-mile journey through NYC's five boroughs by her Today co-hosts, from Al Roker to Savannah Guthrie. —

Natasha Dye, Peoplemag, 6 Nov. 2023 Zac Clark James wasn’t the only member of Bachelor Nation running through the five boroughs today. —

Vulture, 5 Nov. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'borough.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English burgh, from Old English burg fortified town; akin to Old High German burg fortified place, and probably to Old English beorg hill — more at barrow

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler

The first known use of borough was before the 12th century

See more words from the same century