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suburb

suburb

286 2.7
An area just outside a city with many houses where people live
  • noun
  • /ˈsʌbɜrb/
translation icon : suburbio
  • That's a suburb of Dallas.
  • move to the suburbs
  • living in the suburbs
  • cities and suburbs

I was just in a city, the suburb of Pittsburgh.

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Examples

  • Living all the way out here in the suburbs.

  • Sasha is in the Chicago suburb of Skokie for a hearing.

    Academic text (2011)
  • It's a little suburb of LA in the northern part.

  • Start in a random suburb and walk for a mile.

  • I grew up in Chicago, in the West suburbs of Chicago.

  • We're looking for a place, maybe in the suburbs.

  • And they lived in East St. Louis, an exclusive suburb.

  • And we had in a leafy suburb in New Jersey.

  • The town of Cicero, Illinois, is a suburb of Chicago, located on its western border.

    Academic text (2008)
  • The town of Cicero, Illinois, is a suburb of Chicago, located on its western border.

Synonyms

edge of town
vssuburb
15 3.0

The outer part of a town where it meets the countryside

describes the area as a living community rather than just a boundary
burb
vssuburb
  • Informal
13 8.6

A place outside a city where many people live, with houses and parks

is the neutral formal name used for that residential community
suburbia
vssuburb
13 4.2

Areas just outside a city where many people live

is used for the place itself rather than its people or culture
suburban area
vssuburb
5 2.7

A residential area near a city with family homes and quieter streets

is the standard general word for that kind of residential community
outskirts
vssuburb
3.0

Parts of a town or city that are far from the center

focuses on location only rather than a residential community

Antonyms

1.0

A large town where many people live and work that has its own local government

41 2.7

A place with many people and buildings like a city

How Urban

city
1.0
suburb
286 2.7
town
1.0
village
1.0
rural area
68 2.0

Surface Forms

suburb singular
suburbs plural

Etymology

The word suburb comes from the parts sub- meaning 'under' or 'near' and urb meaning 'city', the same urb you see in urban. So a suburb is a place of homes just outside a city.