Harlem
Americannoun
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a section of New York City, in the NE part of Manhattan.
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a tidal river in New York City, between the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, which, with Spuyten Duyvil Creek, connects the Hudson and East rivers. 8 miles (13 km) long.
noun
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During the 1920s, Harlem was the site of a great upsurge in black literature, music, and theater known as the Harlem Renaissance.
Mostly populated by African-Americans, Harlem has long been a center of black culture.
The area now contains a large Puerto Rican population and, after a period of economic decay, has experienced a revitalization.
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.
After the deaths of their parents, the aging bluebloods holed up in their stately Harlem rowhouse, once a picture of Gilded Age polish, and became a public curiosity.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
Whether or not New York is your jam, or a place you have escaped from or to, Whitehead’s Harlem Trilogy is destined to live on as an American classic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
During Prohibition in America, the different racial groups mixed freely at speakeasies in Harlem, N.Y., where, the author writes, a night out “was like being part of the resistance.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Last August, in Harlem in upper Manhattan, 114 people were infected and seven people died.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
The numbers, the equivalent of today’s lottery, were the dreams of Harlem and Mama’s only hope to do more with the little money Dad gave her each week.
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
