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
Music from the margins Bachata was born in the Dominican countryside and later developed in the shantytowns of Santo Domingo, the capital.
—
Wilfredo José Burgos Matos, The Conversation, 25 July 2025
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
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
Wilfredo José Burgos Matos, The Conversation, 25 July 2025
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
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
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Found in cities and jungles throughout Asia, macaques form intricate matrilineal societies and display a keen sense of fairness.—
Ava Kofman,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
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Locavore is Bali’s most celebrated fine dining spot, where jungle-to-table tasting menus spotlight native ingredients and inventive technique.—
Jim Augerinos,
Travel + Leisure,
31 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Video published by Reuters on Tuesday showed huge columns of black smoke emerging from the Alemão favela during the raid.—
Gonzalo Zegarra,
CNN Money,
28 Oct. 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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Also, Fateh has criticized Frey’s move to clear homeless encampments in the city without offering housing.—
David Zimmermann,
The Washington Examiner,
5 Nov. 2025
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But challenges and criticisms remain, including a recent mass shooting at a homeless encampment, state and federal consent decrees and questions about police’s interaction with federal immigration enforcement.—
Eric Levenson,
CNN Money,
3 Nov. 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 8 Nov. 2025.
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