GHETTO Definition & Meaning

ghetto

[get-oh]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

plural

ghettos, ghettoes

a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social pressures or economic hardships.
(formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live.
any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment.
job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly.

adjective

pertaining to or characteristic of life in a ghetto or the people who live there.
ghetto culture.
Slang: Often Disparaging and Offensive.��noting something that is considered to be unrefined, low-class, cheap, or inferior.

ghetto

/ ˈɡɛ��əʊ /

noun

sociol a densely populated slum area of a city inhabited by a socially and economically deprived minority
an area in a European city in which Jews were formerly required to live
a group or class of people that is segregated in some way

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of ghetto¹

First recorded in 1605–15; from Italian, originally the name of an island near Venice where Jews were forced to reside in the 16th century, from Venetian dialect: literally, “foundry for artillery” (giving the island its name); futher origin uncertain

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of ghetto¹

C17: from Italian, perhaps shortened from borghetto, diminutive of borgo settlement outside a walled city; or from the Venetian ghetto the medieval iron-founding district, largely inhabited by Jews

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

He’s one of the well-heeled German Jews who left Europe early and look down on their ghetto brethren.

From

I’m a little bit of cowboy on top, little bit of disco on the bottom, a little bit ghetto country on the bottom, on my feet.

From

“We would hit a town, and he’d head straight to the ghetto and almost get killed,” Trees guitarist Gary Lee Conner said.

From

"This ghetto was my home, my hood, always will be," he's often heard saying.

From

After the Nazis conquered Poland in 1940, he and his family were moved to the Jewish ghetto established in the city which was plagued by disease, starvation and forced labour.

From

gherkin ghetto blaster

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