gentrify
Americanverb (used with object)
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gentrifies,
present (3rd person singular)
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gentrified,
past participle, past
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gentrifying
present participle
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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)
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gentrifies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gentrified,
past participle, past
-
gentrifying
present participle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gentrifysimple
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gentrifiessimple
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have gentrifiedperfect
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has gentrifiedperfect
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am gentrifyingprogressive
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are gentrifyingprogressive
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is gentrifyingprogressive
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have been gentrifyingperfect progressive
-
has been gentrifyingperfect progressive
Past
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gentrifiedsimple
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had gentrifiedperfect
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was gentrifyingprogressive
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were gentrifyingprogressive
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had been gentrifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gentrify
Explanation
To gentrify is to fix up a neighborhood so that wealthier people want to move there, with the unfortunate result that poor residents can't afford to live there anymore. This process often begins when middle-class people start buying and sprucing up homes in a poor neighborhood. Over time, more well-off people move in, along with hip coffee shops and fancy restaurants and shops — and house prices and rents go way up. It takes a while to gentrify a whole neighborhood, but eventually it becomes nearly impossible for lower-income people to stay. Gentrify is from gentry, or "nobility," and its root, which means "high-born."
Vocabulary lists containing gentrify
There Goes the Neighborhood
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Nigeria Jones
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Invisible Son
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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.
See Examples For:
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 ● Dec. 1, 2025
Organizers fear the office-centric development, with a K Line stop onsite, will further gentrify the neighborhood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2022
Rundown apartments are still a hazard, but displacement has become public enemy No. 1 in housing policy as city neighborhoods gentrify and awareness of the importance of stability grows.
From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2022
“I could go stand there with a sign and say ‘don’t gentrify this Black community, hashtag cancel’ or I could actually do something more permanent,” she said.
From New York Times ● Dec. 7, 2021
He said the effort was a misguided attempt to gentrify blighted neighborhoods under the guise of fighting crime — a claim disputed by city leaders.
From Washington Post
As the neighborhood gentrifies and Chinese residents grow older and fewer, the clubs — called “tong,” “gungso” or “wui” in Cantonese — remain a vital social glue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2023
But as the area gentrifies — driven, in a major way, by the opening of SoFi Stadium — there’s concern that the city, as remembered through its classic rap lyrics, is disappearing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2022
“Usually when a neighborhood gentrifies, the new stores that open are mostly very expensive,” she said.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 2, 2017
Across the state border in Louisiana, New Orleans is facing similar problems as it develops and gentrifies.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 6, 2017
But as it gentrifies she realizes they are, in some ways, trapped.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2017
The front MacPherson struts and rear multi-links have been upgraded and thoroughly gentrified.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
But as it moved through the gentrified streets, the initially peaceful protest turned ugly.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2025
A seven-story boulder on federal land has become a tinderbox of tensions over who gets to enjoy this patch of Mojave Desert, which has rapidly gentrified since the COVID-19 pandemic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2024
“The Western markets did not democratize EVs. They gentrified EVs,” said Bill Russo, the founder of the Automobility Ltd. consultancy in Shanghai.
From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2024
This is the Mission District, a gentrified hotbed of sushi, tapas, hip Mexican restaurants, and upscale furniture stores.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
The Mirage, a 32,000-square-foot, open-air dance venue on the outskirts of gentrifying north Brooklyn, looked like a home run to Axar Capital, Axelrod’s fund.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
The gentrifying Reagan years that followed gave rise to archly analytic work addressing institutional power.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2024
Mexico City’s popularity among digital nomads prompts a return by a former resident, who asks: Could it really be gentrifying?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2024
As I stood outside appraising it next to newer and much larger houses in the gentrifying neighborhood, a nagging question overwhelmed me: Is this really it?
From Slate ● Jan. 6, 2024
The main character, Penelope, returns to her home in a now gentrifying Brooklyn to care for her sick father after a short stint in Pittsburgh.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
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.
