slum

[ sluhm ]
/ slʌm /

noun

Often slums. a thickly populated, run-down, squalid part of a city, inhabited by poor people.
any squalid, run-down place to live.

verb (used without object), slummed, slum·ming.

to visit slums, especially from curiosity.
to visit or frequent a place, group, or amusement spot considered to be low in social status.

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Origin of slum

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

OTHER WORDS FROM slum

slum·mer, nounde·slum, verb (used with object), de·slummed, de·slum·ming.

Words nearby slum

sluggish, sluice, sluicegate, sluiceway, sluit, slum, slumber, slumber party, slumberland, slumberous, slumbershade
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

British Dictionary definitions for slummer

slum
/ (slʌm) /

noun

a squalid overcrowded house, etc
(often plural) a squalid section of a city, characterized by inferior living conditions and usually by overcrowding
(modifier) of, relating to, or characteristic of slumsslum conditions

verb slums, slumming or slummed (intr)

to visit slums, esp for curiosity
Also: slum it to suffer conditions below those to which one is accustomed

Derived forms of slum

slummer, nounslummy, adjective

Word Origin for slum

C19: originally slang, of obscure origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012