Meanings
- CanadageographySuburban areas in the province of Ontario closely surrounding the city of Toronto.
Essentially, Toronto had higher commercial property taxes than the 905 area and relatively lower residential property taxes.
2001, Allen J. Scott, Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, retrieved 10 Jan 2021, page 1781 more example
The part of the urban region outside the City of Toronto is often referred to locally as "the 905", the telephone area code that distinguishes it from the 416 area code of the City. Because the 905 has mostly been built up since the 1970s it is also common to regard everything there as "the outer suburbs", a useful name that implies that while this recently developed area is an extension of the inner suburbs it is nevertheless different from them.
2013, Edward Relph, Toronto: Transformations in a City and Its Region (Metropolitan Portraits), University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, retrieved 10 Jan 2021, page 77
Origin
So called after these areas being often assigned the area code 905 in their telephone numbers. Compare with 416 (“Toronto”), which has a similar etymology.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
905. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/905
“905.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/905. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “905,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/905.
Source: 905 on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.