tent city

noun

plural tent cities

: a collection of many tents set up in an area to provide usually temporary shelter (as for people who don't have a permanent place of residence)

Tent cities of displaced homeowners have sprung up …

—Matt Woolsey

Anti-sweatshop protesters at FSU pitched a tent city last March to demand that the school join the Workers Rights Consortium …

—Meline Toumani et al.

Examples of tent city in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Gibson has an unhoused client who lives in MacArthur Park, the site of a notorious tent city not far from downtown. — Carolyn Kellogg, The Atlantic, 8 July 2026

Almost the entire population of Gaza, more than 2 million people, has been squeezed into vast, squalid tent cities dependent on international aid. — Melanie Lidman, Chicago Tribune, 19 June 2026

Almost the entire population of Gaza, more than 2 million people, has been squeezed into vast, squalid tent cities dependent on international aid. — Melanie Lidman, Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2026

Most of the problems were tied to federal officials' decision to let the military create the sprawling tent city of Camp East Montana, which was then taken over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the GAO. — Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 9 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for tent city

• committee
• permittee
• prakriti
• bitty
• ditty
• gritty
• kitty
• nitty
• pity
• pretty
• smriti
• witty

Kids Definition

tent city

noun

: a group of many tents set up to provide usually temporary shelter (as for displaced or homeless people)