urban
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or designating a city or town.
densely populated urban areas.
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living, located, or taking place in a city.
urban rooftop gardening.
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characteristic of or accustomed to cities; citified.
He’s an urban type—I can’t picture him enjoying a whole week at our cabin in the woods.
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of or relating to the experience, lifestyle, or culture of African Americans living in economically depressed inner-city neighborhoods.
Their first album had a hard, urban vibe.
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Offensive. (used as a euphemism for Black or African American, rather than in reference to cities or their residents).
a drug problem that particularly impacts the urban residents in this small town.
adjective
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of, relating to, or constituting a city or town
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living in a city or town
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(of music) emerging and developing in densely populated areas of large cities, esp those populated by people of African or Caribbean origin Compare rural
Other Word Forms
- antiurban adjective
- nonurban adjective
- semiurban adjective
- unurban adjective
Etymology
Origin of urban
First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin urbānus, equivalent to urb- (stem of urbs ) “city” + -ānus adjective suffix; -an
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.
“You have the power to choose coexistence over extinction,” Tiffany Yap, the center’s urban wildlands science director, told commissioners before the vote.
From Los Angeles Times
What’s most impressive, visually, about “Goat” is the way the natural world blends with the urban settings.
From Los Angeles Times
Ten years later, we parted on the most agreeable terms, as her urban lifestyle clashed with my rural one.
From MarketWatch
I wonder if Mom feels guilty, living in this urban paradise while the rest of her family is camping in a one-room basement.
From Literature
Electric planes, especially ones that can take off and land vertically, are quiet, potentially opening up new urban markets for aerospace technology.
From Barron's
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.
