as in jungle
a usually poor town or a part of a town where the people live in shanties
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Recent Examples of shantytown
Born in December 1963, the fifth of seven siblings, Lee grew up in Seongnam, a city near the southeastern edge of Seoul that, by the time his family settled there in 1976, was known as a neighborhood for those who had been evicted from the capital’s shantytowns.
—
Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2025
At the same time, authorities in the Spanish capital are dismantling Toni’s neighborhood, a sort of makeshift shantytown no longer commonplace — or deemed right and proper — in wealthy western Europe.
—Adam Solomons, IndieWire, 19 May 2025
On a trip from Cape Town to Pretoria, a reporter grapples with the whiplash of traveling through South Africa’s two worlds, from majestic mountains to struggling shantytowns.
—Lee-Ann Olwage, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025
In Lebanon, where there are no official camps for refugees, over a million Syrians reside in informal settlements and shantytowns.
—Sonia Shah, Foreign Affairs, 10 Nov. 2015
See All Example Sentences for shantytown
Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2025
At the same time, authorities in the Spanish capital are dismantling Toni’s neighborhood, a sort of makeshift shantytown no longer commonplace — or deemed right and proper — in wealthy western Europe.
—Adam Solomons, IndieWire, 19 May 2025
On a trip from Cape Town to Pretoria, a reporter grapples with the whiplash of traveling through South Africa’s two worlds, from majestic mountains to struggling shantytowns.
—Lee-Ann Olwage, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025
In Lebanon, where there are no official camps for refugees, over a million Syrians reside in informal settlements and shantytowns.
—Sonia Shah, Foreign Affairs, 10 Nov. 2015
See All Example Sentences for shantytown
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shantytown
Noun
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Jane Goodall and her friend saw strangers in a jungle, reached out their hands, and began a friendship that changed how humans understood our place in the world.—
Scott Simon,
NPR,
4 Oct. 2025
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When their friends in the jungle need help right away, Horton and Samson promise to help save the day.—
Ryan Schwartz,
TVLine,
4 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Children play with a ball in front of a mural depicting the Brazilian World Cup football team at the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro on November 23, 2022.—
Micah McCartney,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Sep. 2025
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Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, São Paulo’s industrial backstreets and the walls along the metro lines have always been arenas for expression.—
Daniel Scheffler,
Forbes.com,
30 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The Gaza population of more than 2 million has been repeatedly uprooted throughout the war, with most residents now squeezed into tent encampments in the southern part of the territory, near the border with Egypt.—
Greg Myre,
NPR,
9 Oct. 2025
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In fact, George Washington maintained his headquarters in the area just north of Philadelphia during the 1777 Whitemarsh encampment.—
Demetrius Simms,
Robb Report,
6 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Our lead, Joe Rance (Callum Turner), trudges to campus from a Hooverville; later, the coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton), pokes around his crew’s lockers to count the holes in their shoes.—
Amy Nicholson,
New York Times,
24 Dec. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Shantytown.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shantytown. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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