fa·ve·la | \ fə-ˈve-lə 
\
\variants:
or less commonly favella
Definition of favela
: a settlement of jerry-built shacks lying on the outskirts of a Brazilian city
Examples of favela in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web The Mangueira school’s program in the favela near downtown Rio that teaches music to children — keeping them away from crime, and cultivating the school’s future drummers — hasn’t held classes since March.
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NBC News, "Virus delays Rio's Carnival for first time in a century," 25 Sep. 2020 The Mangueira school’s program in the favela near downtown Rio that teaches music to children — keeping them away from crime, and cultivating the school’s future drummers — hasn’t held classes since March.
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Marcelo De Sousa, USA TODAY, "Rio's Carnival is delayed for the first time in a century because of COVID-19 pandemic," 25 Sep. 2020 The Mangueira school's program in the favela near downtown Rio that teaches music to children — keeping them away from crime, and cultivating the school's future drummers — hasn't held classes since March.
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Marcelo De Sousa, Star Tribune, "Virus disrupting Rio's Carnival for first time in a century," 24 Sep. 2020 For more stories and our pandemic tracker, see our hub UNIVERSITY WAS always the plan for Camila Dantas, a 19-year-old high-school graduate from Cidade de Deus, a favela in Rio de Janeiro.
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The Economist, "Home truths The pandemic further weakens Latin America’s underperforming schools," 12 Sep. 2020 Draco grew up in a favela on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and worked for years to become an art director at a major advertising agency.
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Marcia Reverdosa And Jennifer Hauser, CNN, "Brazilian artist aims to inspire neglected youth with 'Black Panther' posters," 31 Aug. 2020 The lack of help worries Patricia Martins, who lives in Brazil’s largest favela, or slum, Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, which houses about 70,000 people in brick homes packed tightly together on steep slopes overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
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Franklin Briceno, The Denver Post, "Coronavirus hits rich and poor unequally in Latin America," 30 Mar. 2020 The most recent raid near this favela occurred ten days ago and left at least seven dead.
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Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, "Rio cartels go from running drugs to pushing medication," 13 June 2020 Protesters called for an end to police operations inside favelas.
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Danica Kirka, The Christian Science Monitor, "'I can't breathe' protests go global," 31 May 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'favela.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for favela
The first known use of favela was in 1946
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