Slum

Definitions

1. A dilapidated neighborhood where many people live in a state of poverty.
   countable, derogatory
2. Slumgullion; a meat-based stew.
   slang, uncountable
3. Nonsense; humbug.
   UK, obsolete, slang, uncountable
4. Inexpensive trinkets awarded as prizes in a carnival game.
   slang, uncountable

Equivalents

26 more languages

العربيةالحيّ الفقيرمِنْطَقَة عَشْوَائِيَّة

Bosanskifavelamahalaмахала

Češtinaslum

Ελληνικάπαραγκούποληφτωχογειτονιά

Suomislummi

हिन्दीझुगियाबस्ती

Hrvatskifavelamahalaмахала

Magyarnyomornegyed

Italianobaraccopolibassofondoslum

日本語スラム貧民窟貧民街

ភាសាខ្មែររោរព

한국어빈민가빈민굴슬럼

Kurdîvîlla

Latviešubūcenis

Nederlandskrottenwijksloppenwijk

Polskislums

Portuguêsbairro de latafavelamusseque

Românăghetoumahala

Русскийтрущоба

Српскиfavelamahalaмахала

Kiswahilikitongoji duni

தமிழ்சேரி

ไทยชุมชนแออัดสลัม

Українськане́трі

اردوبستی

Tiếng Việtkhu ổ chuộtổ chuột

Examples

“Go to the half built-upon slums behind Battlebridge […] you will find⟳ groups of boys […] squatting in the mud, among the rubbish, the broken bricks, the dust-heaps, and the fragments of timber […]”

“I saw⟳ that most of those who were spending from eight to fifteen pounds monthly had the advantage of scholarships. I had before me examples of much simpler living. I came across a fair number⟳ of poor students living more humbly than I. One of them was staying in the slums in a room at two shillings a week and living on two pence worth of cocoa and bread per meal from Lockhart's cheap Cocoa Rooms.”

“Another place⟳ where, from the aesthetic point⟳ of view⟳, a long tunnel would have⟳ been a real blessing, is East London as viewed from the carriage window on the old Great Eastern line. Despite a vast change⟳ from crowded slums to tracts of wasteland, due to its grim wartime experience⟳, this approach⟳ still provides a shabby and unworthy introduction to the great capital.”

“Pearson's London was what we now call⟳ central London, and much of it was slums. Today most of us wouldn't say⟳ no to a pied à terre in Clerkenwell, but in 1850 it was a slum. Drury Lane? A slum. Seven Dials and Covent Garden? Holborn and Finsbury? Slums.”

“The lower the price of slum the better it is for the operator who can either give⟳ more of it out or build⟳ up the size of his big prizes. It is the big prizes that bring⟳ the play⟳, even though the winner has to be satisfied with a piece of slum for his efforts.”

“Another hanky pank is the darts and balloons. No gaffs, no grift, nothing phoney. Game for the kids and the family. Get⟳ a dozen gross of slum and pass⟳ it out to the kids, and everybody'll love⟳ you.”

“Making twenty times his investment in only seconds, the concessionaire smiled as he awarded the nickel slum, often a stuffed worm, to each unwitting pigeon.”

“And this, without more slum began, / Over a flowing pot-house can, / To settle⟳, without botheration, / The rigs of this here tip-top nation.”

CEFR level