inner city

[in-er sit-ee]

noun

1. an older part of a city, densely populated and usually deteriorating, inhabited mainly by poor, often minority, groups.

   Struggling schools in the inner city face substantial challenges to prepare students for college.

adjective

1. of or relating to such a section within a city: low-income residents in inner-city neighborhoods.

   after-school programs for inner-city youth;

   low-income residents in inner-city neighborhoods.

inner city

noun

1. 1. the parts of a city in or near its centre, esp when they are associated with poverty, unemployment, substandard housing, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      inner-city schools

inner city

1. A general term for impoverished areas of large cities. The inner city is characterized by minimal educational opportunities, high unemployment and crime rates, broken families, and inadequate housing. (See ghettos.)

Word History and Origins

Origin of inner city¹

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Maverick Carter, a longtime friend and business partner of both James and Schottenstein who runs an entertainment company, describes meeting Schottenstein as “a young African-American kid from the inner city of Akron, Ohio.”

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The military, he declared, should be used to fight “the enemy within” — and America’s “inner cities” should be used for “training grounds.”

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Visiting just hours after the blaze, President Cyril Ramaphosa called it "a wake-up call to begin to address the situation of housing in the inner city".

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The group released their debut single Liberty Bell in 2017, a track which makes reference to a working class area of inner city Dublin known as the Liberties.

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In the autumn of 1981, with three million unemployed and with riots blighting a number of inner city areas, Tebbit made the speech for which he will always be remembered.

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Related Words

• central city 
• downtown 
• slum