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Definition of ghetto
ghettos
alsoghettoes
1 : a quarter of a city in which Jews were formerly required to live
2 : a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure
3a : an isolated group a geriatric ghettob : a situation that resembles a ghetto especially in conferring inferior status or limiting opportunity the pink-collar ghetto
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Examples of ghetto in a Sentence
He grew up in the ghetto.
Recent Examples of ghetto from the Web
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The guy sitting in the back wore some kind of t-shirt about a geek ghetto squad.
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There are some black people dancing in Harlem, the Italian peddler, the ghetto [on the Lower East Side] with the Jewish old man, Greenwich Village with artists painting.
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From Anne Frank’s years in hiding to Miriam Wattenberg’s eyewitness account of life in the Warsaw ghetto, Holocaust diaries provide a glimpse into daily life during a genocide.
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Hence, the Dalit ghettos are often the targets of communal violence, continued state suppression and a social sanction against their welfare.
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VENICE — There are fewer than 500 Jews left in Venice, barely a handful compared with the 5,000 who filled the ghetto here at its height in the 17th century.
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Many live in settlements officially recognized as refugee camps but better described as concrete ghettos ringed by checkpoints and, in some cases, blast walls and barbed wire.
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Polanski credits scenes to his personal experience in a Krakow ghetto as a child.
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Jewish radio pianist in Warsaw, Poland (Adrien Brody) is forced into life in the ghetto and beyond upon the Nazi's invasion.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ghetto'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
The etymology of Italian ghetto was formerly the subject of much speculation, but today there is little doubt that the word comes from the Italian dialect form ghèto, meaning “foundry.” A foundry for cannons was once located on an island that forms part of Venice, where in 1516 the Venetians restricted Jewish residence. The word ghèto became the name for the area and was borrowed into standard Italian as ghetto, with the meaning of “section of a city where Jews are forced to live.” From there it passed into most other European languages. Since the late 19th century, the meaning of ghetto has been extended to crowded urban districts where other ethnic or racial groups have been confined by poverty or prejudice.
Origin and Etymology of ghetto
Italian, from Venetian dialect ghèto island where Jews were forced to live, literally, foundry (located on the island), from ghetàr to cast, from Latin jactare to throw — more at jet
Origin and Etymology of ghetto
see 1ghetto
GHETTO Defined for English Language Learners
ghetto
playDefinition of ghetto for English Language Learners
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: a part of a city in which members of a particular group or race live usually in poor conditions
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: the poorest part of a city
GHETTO Defined for Kids
ghetto
playDefinition of ghetto for Students
ghettos
orghettoes
: a part of a city in which members of a particular group live in poor conditions
Learn More about ghetto
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Spanish Central: Translation of ghetto Nglish: Translation of ghetto for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of ghetto for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about ghetto
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