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The Suburbs vs. the Urbs
Given that most of the common words in our language beginning sub- tend to have meanings concerned with “beneath” (as in subterranean and submarine) or “less than” (as with subpar), you would be forgiven for assuming that the suburbs were so named because of their location below, or their status as less than, their urban counterparts. Not so, however: sub- may have other meanings at the beginning of a word; in this case, it indicates not depth or inferiority, but proximity. In other words, the suburbs are a region close to the urbs.
Is urbs an English word? Yes; it is rarely used, but it refers typically to a city, particularly when distinguished from a suburb.
Examples of suburb in a Sentence
John W. Bateman, Chicago Tribune, 3 May 2026
Gyllenborg grew up in the Kansas City suburb of Leawood, Kansas, playing briefly at Rockhurst High before growing into an NFL prospect as a tight end for four seasons at Wyoming.
—Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 3 May 2026
Her sudden disappearance in 1991 rattled residents of Granite Bay, a suburb of Sacramento where the 35-year-old mother of two had gone to clean her sister’s home, investigators said.
—Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN Money, 2 May 2026
In 2020, the Boise suburb had 11,117 residents, including 10 on the Canyon side of the county line, Compass estimates show.
—Rose Evans
may 2, Idaho Statesman, 2 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for suburb
Cite this Entry
“Suburb.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suburb. Accessed 4 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
suburb
noun
Middle English suburb "part around the outer edge of a city," from early French (same meaning), from Latin suburbium (same meaning), from sub "under, close to" and urbs "city"
