neighborhood

American  

[ney-ber-hood] / ˈneɪ bərˌhʊd /

noun

• neighborhoods
  plural

1. the area or region around or near some place or thing; vicinity.

   the kids of the neighborhood; located in the neighborhood of Jackson and Vine streets.

2. a district or locality, often with reference to its character or inhabitants.

   a fashionable neighborhood; to move to a nicer neighborhood.

   Synonyms:

   vicinity, locale, area, community

3. a number of persons living near one another or in a particular locality.

   The whole neighborhood was there.

4. neighborly feeling or conduct.

5. nearness; proximity.

   to sense the neighborhood of trouble.

6. Mathematics. an open set that contains a given point.

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idioms

1. in the neighborhood of, approximately; nearly; about.

   She looks to be in the neighborhood of 70.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• neighborhoods
  plural

Etymology

Origin of neighborhood

First recorded in 1400–50, neighborhood is from the late Middle English word neighborehode. See neighbor, -hood

Explanation

Use the noun neighborhood when you're talking about a community within a town or city. Getting to know the people and places in your neighborhood can make you feel right at home in a city of millions. A neighborhood can be created by lines on a map that designate a district, or it can grow over time to become a neighborhood with a certain personality, based on who lives there. You can also use neighborhood to describe something nearby, like promising to visit a friend the next time you are in the neighborhood — or something that's approximate, like a restaurants whose burgers are in the neighborhood of ten dollars.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

neighborhood neighborhoods

Hunter, who lives in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Inwood with his husband and daughter, hails from Moscow, Idaho — the state where most of his plays are set.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

She hopes one day every L.A. neighborhood will have a network of volunteer-driven TNR groups like hers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

My family lived in a semidetached brick-and-wood house with a tiny backyard in a middle-class neighborhood of Trenton, N.J.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

For example, common genetic variants associated with openness to experience were linked to a greater likelihood that someone would move to a more cosmopolitan neighborhood.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026

She and Churro left Brother’s Keeper and explored the neighborhood.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

Orange County has been rehabbing critical pump stations that can be used if floodwaters threaten neighborhoods.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Residents were also outraged that the nearby Santa Ynez Reservoir, which had been drained for lengthy repairs, sat empty and dry as neighborhoods burned.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Located just a short distance from the Gurney’s Montauk Resort, the property is located in one of the most sought-after neighborhoods in Montauk.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

In Las Vegas, Kim envisions baseball fans walking through Bally’s restaurants, bars and entertainment spaces on their way to A’s games, much as fans now stream through the neighborhoods surrounding older urban ballparks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Windows for wings that flutter up and down like the windows inside Chinese restaurants and post offices in neighborhoods where school buses are spaceships.

From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds

Related Words

• area
• block
• district
• parish
• part
• precinct
• region
• section
• street
• suburb
• territory
• zone