shantytown
Americannoun
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a section, as of a city or town characterized by shanties and crudely built houses.
-
a whole town or city that is chiefly made up of shantylike houses.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of shantytown
Explanation
A shantytown is a makeshift settlement established by impoverished people. India, Pakistan, and Mexico all currently have fairly large shantytowns. A shanty is a rough dwelling, a word that derives from Scottish Gaelic roots meaning "old" and "house." A community made up of shanties, built from foraged materials like wood, metal, and cardboard, and inhabited by people experiencing homelessness and poverty, is a shantytown. Most of them are found in developing countries, but thousands of Americans lived in shantytowns during the Great Depression, and wealthy cities including Madrid and Los Angeles are home to shantytowns today.
Vocabulary lists containing shantytown
South America - Middle School
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The Great Depression and The New Deal
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South America - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
In Colonia Los Laureles, a canyon shantytown, a viaduct is clogged with sewage, discarded tires, plastic bottles and other debris.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
Their shantytown, nestled in the middle-class neighbourhood of Jodhpur Park, thrummed with life.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2024
But as the Kurdish refugee from Iran quickly realized, dreams and despair were intertwined in the shantytown known as the Jungle.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2023
From the plane you can see this sprawling shantytown.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2022
I was born to them at a time when they were living in a shantytown in Port-au-Prince and had nothing.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
The clandestine artisanal miners, many from neighbouring countries, have become an entrenched presence in the shantytowns that ring Johannesburg and its satellite settlements along the gold reef.
From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 2026
This contributed to the creation of shantytowns surrounding urban centers in Tehran and other cities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he rode the city bus and celebrated Mass in shantytowns, and had a harsh view of unfettered free markets that he was quick to express.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
While Kenya's security forces have experience battling the al-Shabab Islamist militant group, and policing slum settlements, they will be on alien ground in Port-au-Prince's harbourside and hillside shantytowns.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2023
Cement walls were erected to hide the most unsightly shantytowns from the eyes of tourists and others who preferred not to see them.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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.
