Public-health workers mapped sanitation problems in the slums around the port.
Many families in the slum lacked clean water and reliable electricity.
The backpackers decided to slum it in the cheapest hostel they could find.
The shared kitchen turned into a slum during the festival weekend.
New transit links connected the hillside slum with nearby jobs.
Similar words
dump
shantytown
slum it
lower oneself
pigsty
squatter settlement
rough it
tenement district
make do
favela
Meanings
Poor overcrowded urban area
noun
urban housing
neutral
A crowded city area where poverty, poor housing, and weak basic services make living conditions hard.
Examples
Many families in the slum lacked clean water and reliable electricity.
The city funded a program to upgrade several slums instead of clearing them by force.
She documented how insecure land tenure affected slum residents.
New transit links connected the hillside slum with nearby jobs.
Public-health workers mapped sanitation problems in the slums around the port.
Similar words
shantytown
favela
informal settlement
squatter settlement
tenement district
rookery
Very dirty or neglected place
noun
everyday
informal
A place, room, or building that is so dirty, untidy, or neglected that it feels unfit to live in.
Examples
After months of leaks and broken windows, the rental house had become a slum.
The basement looked like an absolute slum before the cleanup crew arrived.
He called the abandoned hostel a slum, with rubbish piled in every hallway.
The shared kitchen turned into a slum during the festival weekend.
Without repairs, the old boarding house slowly became a slum.
Similar words
dump
pigsty
hovel
mess
shambles
eyesore
Spend time in worse conditions
verb
social
informal
To spend time in places or conditions below one's usual standard, often temporarily and sometimes with curiosity or humor.
Examples
The backpackers decided to slum it in the cheapest hostel they could find.
Reporters were accused of slumming in the neighborhood for dramatic stories.
After the hotel lost their booking, they slummed it on a friend's floor.
He joked that flying economy was slumming it after years in business class.
The students went slumming in fashionable dive bars across the city.
Similar words
rough it
make do
lower oneself
go slumming
slum it
Etymology
The noun began in early nineteenth-century British slang, probably from cant slum meaning a room or back room, but its deeper origin is unknown. The verb developed later from the noun.
FAQ
What does slum mean?
Slum usually means a crowded urban area marked by poverty, poor housing, and weak basic services.
Can slum describe a messy room?
Yes, but only informally and usually for extreme dirt, neglect, or disorder, not for ordinary clutter.
What does slum it mean?
To slum it means to accept conditions worse than one's usual standard, often temporarily or humorously.
Is slum offensive?
Slum can sound stigmatizing when used about communities, so neutral terms such as informal settlement may be better in policy or humanitarian contexts.
What are synonyms for slum?
Depending on context, synonyms include shantytown, favela, informal settlement, dump, and hovel.
What are the forms of the verb slum?
The main forms are slum, slums, slummed, and slumming.
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