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suburbanize

American  
[suh-bur-buh-nahyz] / səˈbɜr bəˌnaɪz /
especially British, suburbanise

verb (used with object)

suburbanized, suburbanizing
  1. to give suburban characteristics to.

    to suburbanize a rural area.


suburbanize British  
/ sʌˈbɜːbəˌnaɪz /

verb

  1. (tr) to make suburban

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of suburbanize

First recorded in 1890–95; suburban + -ize

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:

Any final zoning changes are years away, and there are no immediate plans to suburbanize Avocado Heights and Pellissier Village.

From Los Angeles Times May 15, 2023

But these foundations are under stress because, as we urbanize and suburbanize natural areas, we have an unfortunate tendency to sterilize the landscape.

From Scientific American Jan. 17, 2021

In suburbanized, car-centric parts of the world, including most of the United States, those who cannot drive are often cut off from fully participating in their community.

From Salon Mar. 19, 2023

Much of that bounty — from celery to snapdragons — came from the sweeping square miles of what is now the thoroughly suburbanized South Bay and southeast L.A.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 7, 2021

But the spending of newly suburbanized workers may be different, including fewer lunches and happy hours than when they worked downtown.

From New York Times Sep. 3, 2021

A local politician complained that her suburbanized rural county — cotton tops turned into rooftops — was seeing 100-year floods every few months.

From Washington Post Mar. 14, 2018

Even this suburbanized region is really city, dirtied all over with its spawn.

From Penguin Persons & Peppermints by Eaton, Walter Prichard

And he wanted his own land, but the ground around San Jose was already suburbanizing.

From New York Times Dec. 24, 2022

“If you think of where the expansion of population has been, it’s really that we’re a rapidly suburbanizing population,” he said.

From Washington Times Apr. 26, 2021

The sudden depopulation of New Orleans, and its inequitable recovery, accelerated the kind of inner-city gentrification and suburbanizing poverty seen in metropolitan areas around the country.

From Slate Aug. 25, 2015

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