the suburbs

plural noun

: towns or other areas where people live in houses near a larger city

the suburbs of Chicago

also : one of the suburbs of a city

She left the city and moved to the suburbs.

Examples of the suburbs in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Democratic voters in the suburbs have different priorities than Democratic voters in Chicago, not to mention Democratic voters downstate. — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 7 Nov. 2026

That rhetoric may play well in the suburbs, but in the Black township of Alexandra, DA candidate Selaelo Stephinah Mohlala takes a different approach. — Ryan Lenora Brown, Christian Science Monitor, 5 Nov. 2026

The search for a missing 10-year-old girl from West Philadelphia has expanded into the suburbs. — Madeleine Wright, CBS News, 4 Nov. 2026

Hélène was born into a world of Russian nobles in exile who transposed their aristocratic geography onto the suburbs of Paris (Meudon, where Hélène grew up, became Miedonsk) and whose Russophone children only began learning French at school. — Madeleine Wulfahrt, New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2026