neighborhood

American  

[nay-ber-hood] / ˈneɪ bərˌhʊd /

noun

• neighborhoods
  plural

1. 

   the area or region around or near some place or thing; vicinity.

   the kids of the neighborhood; located in the neighborhood of Jackson and Vine streets.

2. a district or locality, often with reference to its character or inhabitants.

   a fashionable neighborhood; to move to a nicer neighborhood.

   Synonyms:

   vicinity, locale, area, community

3. a number of persons living near one another or in a particular locality.

   The whole neighborhood was there.

4. neighborly feeling or conduct.

5. nearness; proximity.

   to sense the neighborhood of trouble.

6. Mathematics. an open set that contains a given point.

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idioms

1. in the neighborhood of, approximately; nearly; about.

   She looks to be in the neighborhood of 70.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• neighborhoods
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of neighborhood

First recorded in 1400–50, neighborhood is from the late Middle English word neighborehode. See neighbor, -hood

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Explanation

Use the noun neighborhood when you're talking about a community within a town or city. Getting to know the people and places in your neighborhood can make you feel right at home in a city of millions. A neighborhood can be created by lines on a map that designate a district, or it can grow over time to become a neighborhood with a certain personality, based on who lives there. You can also use neighborhood to describe something nearby, like promising to visit a friend the next time you are in the neighborhood — or something that's approximate, like a restaurants whose burgers are in the neighborhood of ten dollars.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

neighborhood neighborhoods

He remembers the Watts riots, the 1992 riots, the rise of the Comedy Act Theatre and the neighborhood as “the cultural heartbeat of Black Los Angeles.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026

Designed in 1931 as a neighborhood movie palace, the building opened on April 21, 1932, with 1,100 seats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026

While most people near the scene were solemn, with hands in pockets or filming on their phones, Rachel Cyprian shouted about what she called "overbuilding" in the neighborhood.

From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2026

My friends are close by, I have a community in this neighborhood, and our daughter and our grandchildren drop by from time to time.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 12, 2026

When they finally got to their neighborhood, Coal felt the relief wash over her.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

Bishops opposed lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 14, while the Catholic charity Caritas proposes legislation to revive mothballed public works projects in poor neighborhoods.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2026

California has cleaned up lead-contaminated soil at thousands of homes in neighborhoods surrounding a shuttered battery recycling plant in southeast L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

A new police chief and many more new apartments, even in single-family neighborhoods.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

“That is a Detroit story: genius, grit, and invention, from neighborhoods the world too often overlooked.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

She pleaded with everyone to come together and to volunteer to clean up the neighborhoods and help restore the Negro businesses that had been destroyed.

From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

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Related Words

• area
• block
• district
• parish
• part
• precinct
• region
• section
• street
• suburb
• territory
• zone

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