shantytown

noun

Definition of shantytownnext
as in jungle
a usually poor town or a part of a town where the people live in shanties

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shantytown In the brightly billboarded carcass of a West Coast city, private security shields the corporate enclaves of a tech élite from the shantytowns of the economically superfluous. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026 Their target was the Comando Vermelho (CV), or Red Command, a criminal organization that has ruled these hillside shantytowns for decades. — Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 9 Nov. 2025 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 See All Example Sentences for shantytown
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shantytown
  1. jungle
  2. favela
  3. encampment
  4. Hooverville
Noun
  • There’s some kid-friendly scary music when Marshall goes into the jungle late at night, and a boat catches on fire.
    — Lynnette Nicholas, Parents, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Premiering in Locarno’s international competition, the Spain-Italy-Peru production from Allegra Films follows Adela, a 50-year-old Mexican sound artist who travels from the Peruvian jungle to the Andes recording endangered languages.
    — Callum McLennan, Variety, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of jungle
Noun
  • There's also the time he got lost in a favela in Brazil with a carful of German fans.
    — Wendy Grossman Kantor, PEOPLE, 11 June 2026
  • But soccer enthusiast Rafael Gomes says that the reality of life in the favela has sometimes caught up with them.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 4 June 2026
Definition of favela
Noun
  • The bill also says people and business owners can sue if local governments fail to take action to clear an encampment within 15 business days of being notified about it.
    — Laura Horne, Charlotte Observer, 17 Aug. 2026
  • When other Columbia students staged a counter- protest outside the encampment, holding Israeli flags, people threatened them with violence.
    — Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of encampment
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
Definition of Hooverville

Browse Nearby Words

shanty
shantytown
shantytowns
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Cite this Entry

“Shantytown.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shantytown. Accessed 21 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on shantytown

Nglish: Translation of shantytown for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about shantytown

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