gentrify
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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.
-
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)
Other Word Forms
- gentrifier noun
Etymology
Origin of gentrify
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.
Foreign visitors, mostly young, are seen daily wandering through gentrified neighborhoods gazing at their cellphones, following directions to the latest hip spots hyped on Instagram and TikTok.
From Los Angeles Times
The horizontal city is just too big to fully gentrify; there was always another neighborhood where an artist could find studio space, or a gallery could open up shop.
From Los Angeles Times
And the remodeling of East London into a gentrified glass forest, a minor plot point, has only just begun.
From Los Angeles Times
California’s 34th District is overwhelmingly composed of renters and includes some of the most densely populated working-class neighborhoods in the country, as well as some of the most rapidly gentrifying sections of Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times
But as it moved through the gentrified streets, the initially peaceful protest turned ugly.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
