ghetto

noun ghet·to \ ˈge-(ˌ)tō \

Updated on: 16 Apr 2018

Definition of ghetto

plural ghettos also ghettoes

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

3 a : an isolated group

a geriatric ghetto

b : a situation that resembles a ghetto especially in conferring inferior status or limiting opportunity

the pink-collar ghetto

See ghetto defined for English-language learners

See ghetto defined for kids

Examples of ghetto in a Sentence

He grew up in the ghetto.

Recent Examples of ghetto from the Web

The Yom HaShoah is the day of holocaust and of heroism and the emphasis was on the people who rose up against the Nazis during the Warsaw ghetto uprising.

— david sharos, Aurora Beacon-News, "'Don't give up': 90-year-old Holocaust survivor shares her story," 13 Apr. 2018
The Nazis entered the ghetto on April 19, 1943, the eve of the Passover holiday.

— Washington Post, "As numbers dwindle, Jews who fought Nazis recall struggle," 11 Apr. 2018
The Nazis entered the ghetto on April 19, 1943, the eve of the Passover holiday.

— aron heller, Fox News, "As numbers dwindle, Jews who fought Nazis recall struggle," 11 Apr. 2018
To focus on one troubling fact, too many ghettos live on.

— The Economist, "Fifty years after Martin Luther King’s death, a divided America," 4 Apr. 2018
Kennedy, himself from a wealthy family, had raised the poor, from Indian reservations to urban ghettos.

— robert king, Indianapolis Star, "50 years later, site of Robert Kennedy’s MLK speech begins to show their dream," 1 Apr. 2018
What would is to see that ghettos are still with us, right here in Boston, and that our metropolitan area has one of the highest rates of income inequality in the nation.

— tommie shelby, BostonGlobe.com, "Want to honor Martin Luther King’s memory? Help abolish ghettos.," 30 Mar. 2018
Germans occupied her town on Sept. 9, 1939, and the 50,000 Jews in the town were forced to live in a ghetto built to accommodate 10,000.

— erika butler, The Aegis, "John Carroll students hear stories from Holocaust survivors during annual remembrance day," 6 Mar. 2018
The legacy: Ron Forman is a go-getter who led the transformation of the Audubon Zoo from a dreary animal ghetto to a world-class attraction.

— contributing writer, NOLA.com, "Meet New Orleans' king of the wild things," 18 Mar. 2018

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

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First Known Use: 1611

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