slum

[sluhm]

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.

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

/ 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

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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of slum¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of slum¹

C19: originally slang, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

Murals, sculptures and other works depicting Hernandez have been inaugurated recently, including a large painting of his face on a wall in Petare, the biggest slum in Caracas.

Read more on Barron's

One problem would be Venezuela’s infantry, which could hole up in the densely packed slums of Caracas and other cities.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It was a common scene in the slums of the Cambodian capital: warrens of huts wedged between garbage-strewn streets; tiny children begging for food at nearly every corner.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

One of those counterproductive policies was slum clearance, which paved the way for public housing.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"That is not a definition of a slum," the former Conservative mayor said.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• rookery