shantytown
noun
shan·ty·town
ˈshan-tē-ˌtau̇n 
: a usually poor town or section of a town consisting mostly of shanties
Examples of shantytown in a Sentence
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On a trip from Cape Town to Pretoria, a reporter grapples with the whiplash of traveling through South Africa’s two worlds, from majestic mountains to struggling shantytowns.
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Lee-Ann Olwage, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025
Younis: The Khan Younis refugee camp is a dense, gray, concrete shantytown, the black waters from sewers running in thin rivulets down the middle of alleys.
—Chris Hedges, Harpers Magazine, 15 June 2024
While surveying the demolished shantytowns, the top French official in Mayotte at first announced that hundreds, if not thousands, had likely perished.
—Julie Bourdin, New York Times, 25 Dec. 2024
For the kingdom, the bombings and the individuals that perpetrated them—native Moroccans from the city’s hardscrabble shantytowns—were a wake-up call.
—Ilan Berman, Foreign Affairs, 12 May 2016
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Lee-Ann Olwage, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025
Younis: The Khan Younis refugee camp is a dense, gray, concrete shantytown, the black waters from sewers running in thin rivulets down the middle of alleys.
—Chris Hedges, Harpers Magazine, 15 June 2024
While surveying the demolished shantytowns, the top French official in Mayotte at first announced that hundreds, if not thousands, had likely perished.
—Julie Bourdin, New York Times, 25 Dec. 2024
For the kingdom, the bombings and the individuals that perpetrated them—native Moroccans from the city’s hardscrabble shantytowns—were a wake-up call.
—Ilan Berman, Foreign Affairs, 12 May 2016
See All Example Sentences for shantytown
Cite this Entry
“Shantytown.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shantytown. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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shantytown
noun
shan·ty·town
-ˌtau̇n
: a usually poor town or section of a town made up mostly of shanties
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