gentrification

noun

gen·​tri·​fi·​ca·​tion ˌjen-trə-fə-ˈkā-shən 

: a process in which a poor area (as of a city) experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people who renovate and rebuild homes and businesses and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents

a neighborhood undergoing gentrification

"This week, we're talking about gentrification. Middle-class people move in. Property values and rents rise. Things change and improve but not for everyone. …"

—Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Opposition is also stoked by fear of gentrification—displacement of longtime residents through higher rents or property taxes.

—Steven Litt

The construction of luxury housing and gentrification of neighborhoods is pushing families out of communities they have called home for years.

—Heidi Romanish and David Snyder

In an effort to keep gentrification from creeping in the same way into the 30th Ward … Jessica Gutierrez wants to keep a lid on property taxes and inform residents about affordable housing.

—Alexandra Arriaga

Examples of gentrification in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Over the past 25 years, the neighborhood has become predominantly white and higher-income, reflecting intense gentrification and a sharp rise in property values that has increasingly pushed out older families. —Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 2 Dec. 2025

The creative milieu that was strengthened by this development and saw its symbolic status rise thanks to the neoliberal-capitalist gentrification and location economy during this period had come under considerable economic stress. —Diedrich Diederichsen, Artforum, 1 Dec. 2025

There’s a tender tale here also of displacement, gentrification, privilege, as well as the desire to lash out at a system using the very means and methods of that system. —Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025

Where will the gentrification of stadiums end? —John Seabrook, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

gentry + -ification

First Known Use

1964, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for gentrification

• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration
• accentuation
• accommodation
• accreditation
• acculturation
• accumulation
• acetylation
• adjudication
• administration
• adulteration