urbex

U1R1B3E1X8
/ˈɜɹbeks/

noun

The exploration of man-made environments, especially urban structures that are abandoned or off-limits; urban exploration.

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Scrabble 14

Meanings

nounurbex (uncountable)

alternative UrbEx

  1. uncountableThe exploration of man-made environments, especially urban structures that are abandoned or off-limits; urban exploration.

    For example, in Belgium, we have some great urbex (urban exploration) locations (old empty buildings) where you can go and shoot.

    2013, Frank Doorhof, Mastering the Model Shoot: Everything a Photographer Needs to Know Before, During and After the Shoot, page 35
    2 more examples

    Simon didn't need reminding about the dangers of urbex, but Matt was on a roll.[…]It had been Matt's blog that had got Simon into urbex.

    2009, Nick Walters, edited by Colin Harvey, Trespassers: Future Bristol, page 99

    Ultimately, urbex remains a kind of cipher—occasionally, it catches media attention, and is grouped with other subcultures, like parkour, or even steampunk (Dawdy 2010), that are somehow "remixing" or renegotiating ways to relate to space, and how particular spaces are envisioned to exist within time.

    2015, Veronica Davidov, “9: Abandoned Environments: Producing New Systems of Value Through Urban Exploration”, in Ismael Vaccaro, Krista Harper, Seth Murray, editors, The Anthropology of Postindustrialism: Ethnographies of Disconnection, unnumbered page

    Synonyms: UE, urbexing

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe exploration of man-made environments, especially urban structures that are abandoned or off-limits; urban exploration.

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Cite this entry
APA

urbex. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urbex

MLA

“urbex.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urbex. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “urbex,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urbex.

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