gentrify

[ jen-truh-fahy ]

verb (used with object)

, gen·tri·fied, gen·tri·fy·ing.

1. to alter (a deteriorated urban neighborhood) through the buying and renovation of houses and stores by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, raising property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.
2. to conform to an upper- or middle-class lifestyle; make appealing to those with more affluent tastes:

   Fish and chips have been gentrified.

verb (used without object)

, gen·tri·fied, gen·tri·fy·ing.

1. to undergo this type of change:

   Some neighborhoods gentrify more quickly than others.

Other Words From

• gentri·fier noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of gentrify¹

First recorded in 1970–75; gentry + -fy

Example Sentences

Activists and local politicians regularly excoriated the tech class for gentrifying neighborhoods and pricing out longtime residents.

From Quartz

Near the start of the pandemic, in a gentrifying neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, visitors from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived at Danielle Bellamy’s doorstep.

From ProPublica

To the extent the success of the socialist left is in part tied to gentrifying neighborhoods, it remains to be seen how that will impact a citywide race.

From FiveThirtyEight

New restaurant owners entering gentrifying areas are sometimes people of color themselves, but this doesn’t mean that they can’t be gentrifiers, Sbicca says.

From Eater

“This won’t reach low-income people, but it will reach middle-income people and that benefits gentrifying areas,” he said.

From Voice of San Diego

Things rapidly gentrify around those couples, and then the next round begins in a new neighborhood a couple of years later.

From The Daily Beast

Jessegate is just the latest, and I would argue inevitable, setback in the centuries-long quest to gentrify overalls.

From The Daily Beast

Related Words

• continue
• extend
• prolong
• reaffirm
• reestablish
• reopen
• repeat
• restate
• restore
• resume
• revive