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
The demonstration lasted six weeks, with some participants setting up a shantytown known as Resurrection City.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 12 May 2025
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
The demonstration lasted six weeks, with some participants setting up a shantytown known as Resurrection City.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 12 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for shantytown
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shantytown
Noun
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Like most of the others, Rodríguez had never set foot in Mexico and had never heard of this city of a million people surrounded by dense jungle.—
Kate Linthicum,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Mar. 2026
-
The characters, as shot by cinematographer Cedric Cheung-Lau, organically occupy these spaces, like the jungle or sea caves, which often feel otherworldly in their untainted beauty.—
Carlos Aguilar,
IndieWire,
20 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Official samba schools began forming in the 1930s, bringing the (previously criminalised) dance into the mainstream and celebrating an art form produced by Rio’s favela communities (Afro-Brazilian heritage is still at the heart).—
Laura French,
TheWeek,
18 Mar. 2026
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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
Noun
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Police have arrested a man on arson and murder charges in connection with a fatal fire at a homeless encampment in Milford last August.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
18 Mar. 2026
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The complaints range from rodent issues to blocked driveways to squatting and the discovery of homeless encampments inside the building.—
Nicholas Williams,
New York Daily News,
17 Mar. 2026
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 24 Mar. 2026.
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