slum

1 of 2

noun

ˈsləm 

plural slums

: a densely populated usually urban area marked especially by poverty

slum

2 of 2

verb

slummed; slumming; slums

intransitive verb

: to visit slums especially out of curiosity

broadly : to go somewhere or do something that might be considered beneath one's station

—sometimes used with it

slumming it in budget hotels

slummer noun

Examples of slum in a Sentence

Noun

He grew up in the slums of New York.

Verb

He sometimes likes to go slumming in bars around the city.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The wealthy will wind up with beachfront condos and the native Palestinians will be allocated to cheaply built slums far from the coastline. —Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 23 Feb. 2026

Another German Jewish project was the Galveston Plan (1907-14), which aimed to steer Jewish immigrants away from New York and other big cities, where there were highly visible Jewish slums. —Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2026

Verb

Booted out of his royal Windsor lodgings, was slumming it on the king’s private estate in Norfolk. —Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb. 2026

Instead, Koru had to slum it next to oil tankers and large shipping vessels in the city’s container port. —Tristan Bove, Fortune, 12 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

origin unknown

First Known Use

Noun

1825, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1884, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for slum

• bum
• chum
• come
• crum
• cum
• drum
• dum
• dumb
• from
• frum
• glum
• gum

Kids Definition

slum

1 of 2 noun

ˈsləm 

: a thickly populated section especially of a city marked by crowding, dirty run-down housing, and generally poor living conditions

slum

2 of 2 verb

slummed; slumming

: to visit slums especially out of curiosity

slummer noun