as in favelas
a usually poor town or a part of a town where the people live in shanties
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Recent Examples of shantytowns
In the brightly billboarded carcass of a West Coast city, private security shields the corporate enclaves of a tech élite from the shantytowns of the economically superfluous.
—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
Their target was the Comando Vermelho (CV), or Red Command, a criminal organization that has ruled these hillside shantytowns for decades.
—Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 9 Nov. 2025
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
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
Their target was the Comando Vermelho (CV), or Red Command, a criminal organization that has ruled these hillside shantytowns for decades.
—Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 9 Nov. 2025
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shantytowns
Noun
-
In the absence of archive footage of Che, Benigno, Pombo, and Urbano and comrades in the jungles of Bolivia in the 1960s, the director turned to animation to illustrate the story.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
22 May 2026
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If powder-white beaches, turquoise waters, and lush jungles are at the top of your travel itinerary, the following 11 idylls are must-gos, where nature is at its most relaxed and pleasurable.—
Skyli Alvarez,
Condé Nast Traveler,
17 May 2026
Noun
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From clearing encampments to building affordable housing, some of the Los Angeles mayoral candidates laid out competing visions for how to address the city's homelessness crisis, and city spending during a two-day forum.—
Luzdelia Caballero,
CBS News,
14 May 2026
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The visuals cut to homeless encampments, graffiti, and fire.—
Conor Friedersdorf,
The Atlantic,
12 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shantytowns.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shantytowns. Accessed 27 May. 2026.
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