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boomtown

boomtown

4 4.2
A town that grows quickly because a new business or resource brings jobs and money
  • noun
  • /ˈbuːmˌtaʊn/
translation icon : ciudad en auge
  • After all, this was boomtown, where any fool could make cash from chaos, and plenty did.
  • mining boomtown
  • Amazonian boomtowns

Examples

  • As in any boomtown, speculation is rampant, and there are no small deals.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Calgary is a boomtown of sorts, built on oil and livestock.

    Blog text (11)
  • My grandfather lived here when it was a real boomtown.

  • Little known today, Oil City, Pennsylvania, was once a sprawling oil boomtown.

    Blog text (3)
  • Abilene had been a boomtown when the long Texas cattle drives ended there.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • But recently, Baku has become a modern version of America's Wild West, with all the trappings of an oil boomtown.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Parauapebas is a decade-old boomtown located outside the Carajas mining project in Para.

    Academic text (1992)
  • This article examines the growth of a new Amazonian boomtown, Parauapebas, through a series of urban squatter invasions.

    Academic text (1992)
  • The lure of these resources attracts legions of interregional migrants, who find themselves housed precariously in remote Amazonian boomtowns.

    Academic text (1992)
  • In the late 1800s, the discovery of gold turned this small village into a bustling boomtown almost overnight.

Synonyms

boom town
vsboomtown
3 4.4

A town that grows quickly and becomes rich after a new industry or discovery

is identical in meaning but written as one word in modern usage

Antonyms

31 4.9

A town with no people because everyone left, often once lively

How Widespread

rush
518 1.8
gold rush
6 3.0
boomtown
4 4.2

Surface Forms

boomtown singular
boomtowns plural

Morphology

boomtown = boom + town (transparent) = boom + town

The meaning 'a town experiencing a boom' is directly and predictably composed from 'boom' (rapid growth) + 'town'.

Etymology

The word boomtown is simply boom + town; think of a town that suddenly 'booms' — the boom part suggests a 'loud sound' or a 'sudden rise' in jobs and money. So a boomtown is a place that grows very quickly and becomes rich after a new industry or resource appears.