Meanings
alternative UrbEx
- 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 352 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 99Ultimately, 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 & antonyms
nounThe exploration of man-made environments, especially urban structures that are abandoned or off-limits; urban exploration.
Origin
Syllabic abbreviation of urban exploration.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
urbex. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urbex
“urbex.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urbex. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “urbex,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urbex.
Source: urbex on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.