suburb
Americannoun
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suburbs
plural
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a district lying immediately outside a city or town, especially a smaller residential community.
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the suburbs, the area composed of such districts.
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an outlying part.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of suburb
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin suburbium, from sub- sub- + urb(s) “city” + -ium -ium
Explanation
A suburb is a residential district located on the outskirts of a city. If you live in the suburbs, you probably travel to the city for work. Suburb comes from Latin: sub means "below or near" and urbis means "city." You also will recognize this root in urban. Suburbs have more single-family homes than apartment buildings, and living there, you are more likely to have a yard with trees and grass. The downside is, if you work in the city, you might have a long commute that adds to the time you are away from your family.
Vocabulary lists containing suburb
Latin Root "sub" Words
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"The Civil Rights Movement"
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The United States
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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.
See Examples For:
He found Flock employees viewed cameras in the suburb of Dunwoody more than 1,000 times, including at a park.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
The influx of investment and dedicated citizenry has helped the San Gabriel Valley suburb flourish economically and culturally, earning it the nickname the “Chinese Beverly Hills.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
For instance, one single-family home in Ladue, an affluent suburb of St. Louis, is currently listed for $6.1 million, and another custom home is listed for about $3.8 million.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
The H5N1 vaccination program, which also covers a popular little penguin population at a breakwater in the Melbourne beach suburb of St Kilda, is a challenge, he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
As I turned the rental car onto Morrie’s street in West Newton, a quiet suburb of Boston, I had a cup of coffee in one hand and a cellular phone between my ear and shoulder.
From "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
“You go to these beautiful old cities — then you go outside in the suburbs, and it’s like, ‘Oh no, this just looks like a cuter version of Californian suburbs.’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
As the new property manager of Parkwood Apartments, a squat complex of 175 low-rise apartments and townhouses in the San Diego suburbs, she says she excelled.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
When Dick’s bought Foot Locker last year, the move had the potential to increase Dick’s customer base in urban areas, where Foot Locker stores were concentrated, complementing Dick’s stores in the suburbs.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
With big homes that can hold lots of kids, “the suburbs are like the physical manifestation of that.”
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
No one at my high school knew it, but I wasn't meant to live in the suburbs.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
