as in jungle
a usually poor town or a part of a town where the people live in shanties
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Recent Examples of shantytown
Farmers once proud of living and working their ancestral land were driven into poverty and forced into shantytowns.
—
Nik Kowsar, Time, 2 Oct. 2025
These new shantytowns are plagued with substance abuse, violence and prostitution.
—Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025
In 2011, federal agents raided the shantytown and made dozens of arrests.
—Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2025
The demonstration lasted six weeks, with some participants setting up a shantytown known as Resurrection City.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 12 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for shantytown
Nik Kowsar, Time, 2 Oct. 2025
These new shantytowns are plagued with substance abuse, violence and prostitution.
—Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025
In 2011, federal agents raided the shantytown and made dozens of arrests.
—Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2025
The demonstration lasted six weeks, with some participants setting up a shantytown known as Resurrection City.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 12 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for shantytown
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shantytown
Noun
-
The old liberal institutions may be teetering, but that doesn’t mean that all that’s left is the law of the jungle.—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
-
When a small plane crashed in the Colombian jungle, the only survivors were four children, who managed to stay alive for 40 days in the wilderness before being found.—
K. Thor Jensen,
PC Magazine,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Official samba schools began forming in the 1930s, bringing the (previously criminalised) dance into the mainstream and celebrating an art form produced by Rio’s favela communities (Afro-Brazilian heritage is still at the heart).—
Laura French,
TheWeek,
18 Mar. 2026
-
In the 1950s, de Jesus kept a diary that chronicled her struggles to earn an income and feed her three children in a poor, urban community known as a favela in Sao Paulo.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
17 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The law enforcement bulletin identified Kenneth Gibson, 39, as a suspect in a homicide that happened at a homeless encampment at the Eighth Street on-ramp to the 110 Freeway on May 23, 2025.—
Matthew Rodriguez,
CBS News,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Kiswani, the founder of the pro-Palestinian advocacy group Within Our Lifetime, has organized protests across New York City in support of Palestinians in Gaza, including encampments at universities calling for their divestment from Israel.—
Mirna Alsharif,
NBC news,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Our lead, Joe Rance (Callum Turner), trudges to campus from a Hooverville; later, the coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton), pokes around his crew’s lockers to count the holes in their shoes.—
Amy Nicholson,
New York Times,
24 Dec. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Shantytown.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shantytown. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.
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