slum
noun
Often slums. a thickly populated, run-down, squalid part of a city, inhabited by poor people.
slums
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pluralof slum.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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present tense formof slum (3rd person singular).present tense
Used to describe things happening now or regularly.
slumnounOften slums. a thickly populated, run-down, squalid part of a city, inhabited by poor people.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sixteen years ago, Abdi Nor Iftin was a Somali refugee living in one of the roughest slums in Kenya when he found out he had won the lottery of a lifetime.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Like other reformers, including Catherine Bauer and Edith Elmer Wood, Simkhovitch saw slums through the narrow prism of their deplorable physical conditions, such as overcrowding.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
About half of the state's population lives in slums, said University of Lagos professor Timothy Nubi.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
Relating his journey to becoming a visual storyteller, Thomas recalled growing up in “one of the worst slums of Philadelphia,” sitting on his front stoop reading Shakespeare, James Baldwin and Tennessee Williams, immersed and transported.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2025
By now he knew every street, every alley, every fence in all the sprawling slums of the town.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
