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
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
The demonstration lasted six weeks, with some participants setting up a shantytown known as Resurrection City.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 12 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
Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025
In 2011, federal agents raided the shantytown and made dozens of arrests.
—Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2025
The demonstration lasted six weeks, with some participants setting up a shantytown known as Resurrection City.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 12 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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The government cut down swaths of jungle and drove support columns down into the caves to build the tourist train.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
1 Mar. 2026
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And yet locating the synths on The Mirror can feel like combing through the jungle for the lost city of Zinj.—
Dean Van Nguyen,
Pitchfork,
27 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In the 1950s, de Jesus kept a diary that chronicled her struggles to earn an income and feed her three children in a poor, urban community known as a favela in Sao Paulo.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
17 Feb. 2026
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Two and a half decades later, in October 2025, Rio de Janeiro governor Cláudio Castro ordered the police to carry out the deadliest operation in Brazilian history, in one of the city’s favelas.—
Evandro Cruz Silva,
The Dial,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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In her previous role, Dalton worked to drive down street homelessness by increasing outreach to those living in tents and encampments outdoors.—
Josephine Stratman,
New York Daily News,
25 Feb. 2026
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There have been several campus changes since then, including a ban on using masks to shield identity while breaking campus policies — including overnight encampments without permits.—
Jaweed Kaleem,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Feb. 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 4 Mar. 2026.
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