NIMBY
or Nim·by
[usually nim-bee]
- not in my backyard: used to express opposition by local citizens to the locating in their neighborhood of a civic project, as a jail, garbage dump, or drug rehabilitation center, that, though needed by the larger community, is considered unsightly, dangerous, or likely to lead to decreased property values.
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Origin of NIMBY
First recorded in 1980–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for nimby
Contemporary Examples
Initially, people seemed enthusiastic, but then she ran into the eternal problem of waste management: NIMBY.
NIMBY
- not in my back yard: a person who objects to the occurrence of something if it will affect him or her or take place in his or her locality
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for nimby
acronym for not in my back yard, 1980, American English, supposedly coined by Walter Rodgers of the American Nuclear Society.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
NIMBY
Acronym for “Not In My Back Yard.” A term for a person who resists unwanted development, such as manufacturing plants, prisons, power companies, or chemical companies in his or her own neighborhood or town.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.