neighborhood

American  

[ney-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

Etymology

Origin of neighborhood

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

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

In the parking lot, a legal observer helped her download the encrypted messaging app Signal and join her neighborhood rapid-response group.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

Three days after Good’s death, Amundson drove past a Latino grocery store in her neighborhood and saw a group of people sitting in front of the entrance.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

The twins are now in college—and the neighborhood feels a lot different.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

His family was living in the Woodside neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., where his parents had immigrated from Greece.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

The smell of good food had brought people from all over the neighborhood, and they stood around eating and talking and laughing as the sun went down on Liberty City.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

Landlords would only accept tenants who applied using a broker, which meant many brokers had monopolies on full blocks of apartments, and sometimes whole neighborhoods.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

But in the weeks since, the stench of rotting food has drifted into nearby neighborhoods.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

Some New Yorkers see rent-stabilized apartments as a crucial way to stay in their neighborhoods as the housing market booms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

You have protested masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in your neighborhoods.

From Slate ● Jul. 20, 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

Related Words

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