Definition of SUBURBS

The Suburbs vs. the Urbs

Given that most of the common words in our language beginning sub- tend to have meanings concerned with “beneath” (as in subterranean and submarine) or “less than” (as with subpar), you would be forgiven for assuming that the suburbs were so named because of their location below, or their status as less than, their urban counterparts. Not so, however: sub- may have other meanings at the beginning of a word; in this case, it indicates not depth or inferiority, but proximity. In other words, the suburbs are a region close to the urbs.

Is urbs an English word? Yes; it is rarely used, but it refers typically to a city, particularly when distinguished from a suburb.

Examples of suburb in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In an idyllic suburb of Albany, N.Y., members of an organization called Nxivm held barbecues and played volleyball. — Corinne Ramey, WSJ, "Con Man or Charismatic Figure? Lawyers Paint Differing Portraits at Start of ‘Nxivm’ Trial," 7 May 2019 The study examines the environmentally friendly German suburb Vauban, which already puts an emphasis on environmentalism. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Could We Re-Engineer A/Cs To Help Battle Climate Change?," 30 Apr. 2019 Among them were the eventual winners: a Virginia suburb outside of Washington, D.C., and New York's Long Island City. — Chloe Foussianes, Town & Country, "A Timeline of Amazon's "HQ2," From the First Announcement to a Failed Campus in New York City," 14 Feb. 2019 Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images In the early hours of November 11, 2018, 26-year-old Jemel Roberson was working security at a bar in the Chicago suburbs when a shooting broke out. — P.r. Lockhart, Vox, "A black security guard caught a shooting suspect — only to be shot by police minutes later," 23 Jan. 2019 The Anger Groups finally mobilized in October after a Change.org petition about fuel taxes went viral within a small Parisian suburb. — Casey Newton, The Verge, "Facebook’s role in the French protests has polarized observers," 11 Dec. 2018 The mother of two lives in a suburb of Jackson and founded the bike team in part so that her 15-year-old son, who was racing in the local adult league, could race against other teens. — Tess Strokes, Outside Online, "Trading Football for Fat Tires in Mississippi," 6 June 2018 DeAngelo, a 72-year-old retired police officer was linked to the crimes via DNA evidence, and arrested in his home in a suburb of Sacramento, near where many of the crimes were committed, on April 24th of this year. — refinery29.com, "Golden State Killer Suspect Joseph James DeAngelo Charged With 4 More Murders," 11 May 2018 The dream was an elevated rail system to bypass what has been some of the country’s worst traffic, whisking commuters from the farmland and swelling suburbs of West Oahu into the heart of Honolulu. — Paul Overberg, WSJ, "How a Train Through Paradise Turned Into a $9 Billion Debacle," 22 Mar. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'suburb.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.