gentrify

[jen-truh-fahy]

verb (used with object)

gentrified, gentrifying 

1. 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.

2. 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)

gentrified, gentrifying 

1. to undergo this type of change.

   Some neighborhoods gentrify more quickly than others.

Other Word Forms

• gentrifier noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of gentrify¹

First recorded in 1970–75; gentry + -fy

Example Sentences

Hernandez, whose district stretches from working-class Westlake to rapidly gentrifying Highland Park, is a believer in shifting the Overton Window at City Hall — moving the political debate left and “putting people over profits.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“Not that Jesus really had blue eyes. He probably looked very Iranian, right? But you know the Catholics — they had to gentrify him.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

And the remodeling of East London into a gentrified glass forest, a minor plot point, has only just begun.

Read more on 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.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But as it moved through the gentrified streets, the initially peaceful protest turned ugly.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• continue 
• extend 
• prolong 
• reaffirm 
• reestablish www.thesaurus.com
• reopen 
• repeat 
• restate 
• restore 
• resume 
• revive