shantytown

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A form of shanty town — An urban settlement composed predominantly of self-built, low-quality dwellings, often occupied by low-income households lacking secure land tenure.

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Meanings

nounshantytown (plural shantytowns)

plural shantytowns

  1. alternativeAlternative form of shanty town

    The forest gave way to shantytowns that stitched themselves into waves of blue-tented internally displaced camps and then stone dwellings hundreds of years old.

    2019, Dave Eggers, The Parade, N.Y.: Vintage Books, page 173

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
ghettoslum

Origin

From shanty + town.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

shantytown. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shantytown

MLA

“shantytown.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shantytown. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shantytown,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shantytown.

Source: shantytown on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.