variants
or less commonly favella
: a settlement of jerry-built shacks lying on the outskirts of a Brazilian city
Examples of favela in a Sentence
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Now a community organizer and member of an anti-violence collective who works in the favela, Medeiros is no stranger to how the Red Command instills fear in its territories.
—
Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 9 Nov. 2025
So does the bass-heavy genre baile funk, which emerged out of the city’s favelas before going global in the early 2000s.
—Carolina Abbott Galvão, Travel + Leisure, 5 Nov. 2025
The operation, which took place in the city’s favelas — poor neighborhoods long plagued by organized crime — was the deadliest in Rio’s history, the BBC reported.
—Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 30 Oct. 2025
The Rio state government said the operation was its largest ever to target the Comando Vermelho gang, which controls the drug trade in several favelas - poor and densely populated settlements woven through the city's hilly oceanside terrain.
—Janaina Quinet, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for favela
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Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 9 Nov. 2025
So does the bass-heavy genre baile funk, which emerged out of the city’s favelas before going global in the early 2000s.
—Carolina Abbott Galvão, Travel + Leisure, 5 Nov. 2025
The operation, which took place in the city’s favelas — poor neighborhoods long plagued by organized crime — was the deadliest in Rio’s history, the BBC reported.
—Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 30 Oct. 2025
The Rio state government said the operation was its largest ever to target the Comando Vermelho gang, which controls the drug trade in several favelas - poor and densely populated settlements woven through the city's hilly oceanside terrain.
—Janaina Quinet, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for favela
Cite this Entry
“Favela.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/favela. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.
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