suburb

[suhb-urb]

noun

1. a district lying immediately outside a city or town, especially a smaller residential community.

2. the suburbs, the area composed of such districts.

3. an outlying part.

suburb

/ ˈsʌbɜːb /

noun

1. a residential district situated on the outskirts of a city or town

Other Word Forms

• suburbed adjective
• unsuburbed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of suburb¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin suburbium, from sub- sub- + urb(s) “city” + -ium -ium

Word History and Origins

Origin of suburb¹

C14: from Latin suburbium, from sub- close to + urbs a city

Example Sentences

In a leafy suburb of south-east London, locals hope a simple solution is in sight to shut down noisy, dangerous, car racing that has blighted their lives for years.

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Chevron, the oil giant that now owns the refinery, looms over the suburb of 16,000, whose prime location on the beach and close to LAX had made it a choice residential and business address.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Behaving like an duchess while living in a suburb, Bucket's monstrous social-climbing schemes were ultimately doomed to failure - while she battled to maintain her dignity.

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A short drive up into the hills, there's a small pocket of woodland on the edge of an upmarket suburb that could reveal a terrible secret.

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“What we are finding here in Chicago and in the surrounding suburbs is a level of intimidation that is unsustainable and, quite frankly, that’s scary to the children we have in our communities,” she said.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• countryside 
• environs 
• hinterland 
• outpost 
• outskirts 
• suburbia 
• village