neighborhood

American  

[ney-ber-hood] / ˈneɪ bərˌhʊd /

noun

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.

---

idioms

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

   She looks to be in the neighborhood of 70.

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

The house is around two miles from the Islamic Center, which is in the Clairemont Mesa neighborhood.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026

In another case, if the company knows how much a customer makes per year or whether they live in a more affluent neighborhood, they could charge more.

From Salon • May 18, 2026

For now, the company has a nice cushion to lean on: Capital expenditures for Nvidia’s Big Tech hyperscaler consumers have crept into the neighborhood of $700 billion.

From MarketWatch • May 17, 2026

For years, lawmakers and residents in the wealthy neighborhood sought to remove the original 1932 inscription that describes Newlands rather as a statesman who "held true regard for the interests of all men."

From Barron's • May 17, 2026

Mama and Tante Anna redoubled their cooking and sewing for the needy in the neighborhood, as though realizing how brief was anyone’s lifetime of service.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

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