slum
noun
Often slums. a thickly populated, run-down, squalid part of a city, inhabited by poor people.
slums
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pluralof slum.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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present tense formof slum (3rd person singular).present tense
Used to describe things happening now or regularly.
slumnounOften slums. a thickly populated, run-down, squalid part of a city, inhabited by poor people.
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.
Salvadoran military units must now navigate foreign slums where up to an estimated 15,000 armed Creole-speaking combatants operate along narrow corridors and mountain extraction routes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
When Karen Bass was first elected to the California state Assembly in 2004, Nithya Raman was halfway across the world, fresh out of college and working in the slums of Delhi, India.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
Sixteen years ago, Abdi Nor Iftin was a Somali refugee living in one of the roughest slums in Kenya when he found out he had won the lottery of a lifetime.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Nubi proposes "gentrification" that upgrades slums like Makoko without displacing residents.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
Most likely Father Jack had contracted MDR from someone in the slums.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
