suburban
Americanadjective
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pertaining to, inhabiting, or being in a suburb or the suburbs of a city or town.
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characteristic of a suburb or suburbs.
noun
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a suburbanite.
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a short overcoat for casual wear.
adjective
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of, relating to, situated in, or inhabiting a suburb or the suburbs
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characteristic of or typifying a suburb or the suburbs
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pejorative narrow or unadventurous in outlook
noun
Other Word Forms
- nonsuburban adjective
- semisuburban adjective
- suburbanism noun
- unsuburban adjective
Etymology
Origin of suburban
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin suburbānus “located close to a city (especially to Rome),” equivalent to sub- + urb- (stem of urbs “city”) + -ānus adjective suffix; see origin at sub-, urban
Explanation
Suburban refers to areas just beyond a city’s border. Your parents might have grown up in the city and then moved to a more suburban area after they had kids. If you see a lot of malls, plus houses that all look the same, and you're just outside a city, then you're in a suburban area: the suburbs. If you're from the suburbs, the chaos of New York City might be shocking. Suburban areas aren't as busy as urban (city) areas, but there's a lot more going on than in rural areas — farmland. One difference between suburban and urban areas is the urban areas have more cabs and public transportation.
Vocabulary lists containing suburban
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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.
Deputies later located the individual, identified only as a man in his 20s, in his vehicle in the 21000 block of Rimgate Drive, a suburban residential neighborhood in Lake Forest.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2026
A three-month unlimited travel pass on the local Mumbai suburban railway is significantly cheaper at 590 rupees.
From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026
As attendees roamed the corridors of the suburban Dallas resort and gossiped over drinks in the faux-adobe sports bar, there was no sense of a coming contest.
From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026
Starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, the film explores what happens to a family who wake up one day to find that their quaint suburban block has moved somewhere else entirely.
From Salon • Apr. 12, 2026
Just as she had at the suburban house, Roza had the run of the castle.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
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.
