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
Farmers once proud of living and working their ancestral land were driven into poverty and forced into shantytowns.
—
Nik Kowsar, Time, 2 Oct. 2025
These new shantytowns are plagued with substance abuse, violence and prostitution.
—Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025
In 2011, federal agents raided the shantytown and made dozens of arrests.
—Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2025
Long vilified as breeding grounds for drugs, disease, and crime, the shantytowns are easy targets for forcible, and often violent, evictions and brutal policing.
—Sheila S. Coronel, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2019
See All Example Sentences for shantytown
Nik Kowsar, Time, 2 Oct. 2025
These new shantytowns are plagued with substance abuse, violence and prostitution.
—Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025
In 2011, federal agents raided the shantytown and made dozens of arrests.
—Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2025
Long vilified as breeding grounds for drugs, disease, and crime, the shantytowns are easy targets for forcible, and often violent, evictions and brutal policing.
—Sheila S. Coronel, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2019
See All Example Sentences for shantytown
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shantytown
Noun
-
Rivers running from Grenada's volcanic interior down to the coast carve waterfalls into the island's lush jungles.—
Carley Rojas Avila,
Travel + Leisure,
6 Jan. 2026
-
Train it to grow up a moss pole or a small trellis to give a room a dramatic jungle look.—
Leanne Potts,
Better Homes & Gardens,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Now a community organizer and member of an anti-violence collective who works in the favela, Medeiros is no stranger to how the Red Command instills fear in its territories.—
Alessandra Freitas,
CNN Money,
9 Nov. 2025
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Shampoo grew up in Vila do Ipsep, a favela in Recife.—
Jack Lang,
New York Times,
11 Oct. 2025
Noun
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And that’s why, since 2021, the state has removed more than 19,000 encampments and worked with providers to help more than 61,000 people get services.—
Sacramento Bee staff,
Sacbee.com,
8 Jan. 2026
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The study details the results of analysis of core samples retrieved from 1,669 feet (509 m) below the surface during an encampment at the Dome's summit in the spring of 2023.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
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 13 Jan. 2026.
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