shantytown
noun
a section, as of a city or town characterized by shanties and crudely built houses.
shantytowns
-
pluralof shantytown.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
This contributed to the creation of shantytowns surrounding urban centers in Tehran and other cities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025
Some 50,000 people are expected in Belem, which is home to 1.4 million residents, more than half of whom live in shantytowns.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2025
As a result, many of them settled in shantytowns on the city’s outskirts, living in makeshift sheet-metal homes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2025
They also revealed how poor people, who live in sprawling shantytowns without access to proper roads, water or power, bear the biggest brunt of destructive floods.
From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
So I flew really good when I got up above the surface, going over the shantytowns that had been built up around the cooling steeples.
From "Feed" by M.T. Anderson
