slum

American  

[sluhm] / slʌm /

noun

1. Often slums. a thickly populated, run-down, squalid part of a city, inhabited by poor people.

2. any squalid, run-down place to live.

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verb (used without object)

slummed, slumming

1. to visit slums, especially from curiosity.

2. to visit or frequent a place, group, or amusement spot considered to be low in social status.

slum British  

/ slʌm /

noun

1. a squalid overcrowded house, etc

2. (often plural) a squalid section of a city, characterized by inferior living conditions and usually by overcrowding

3. (modifier) of, relating to, or characteristic of slums

   slum conditions

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verb

1. to visit slums, esp for curiosity

2. Also: slum it.  to suffer conditions below those to which one is accustomed

Other Word Forms

• deslum verb (used with object)
• slummer noun
• slummy adjective

Etymology

Origin of slum

1805–15; compare earlier argot slum room; origin obscure

Example Sentences

I don’t think I’d be able to add something to a kid boxing his way out of the slums, because I don’t know that experience.

From Salon

Residents are running guided tours through slums once controlled by gang leaders.

From The Wall Street Journal

I flinched at the slumming comment, but the truth was our businesses benefited from the tourism.

From Literature

He left a peerless catalogue of songs articulating the life of working class Irish immigrants, with tales of finding love in the slums littered with references to literature, mythology and the Bible.

From BBC

He was as familiar with its gleaming mansions as its darkest slums.

From Literature

Related Words

• rookery