Meaning & use
shanty town
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A poor area of a city where people live in small, roughly built shelters.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a shanty town' or 'shanty towns'.
Patterns
- a shanty town on the edge of something
- live in a shanty town
The family moved to a shanty town on the edge of the city after losing their home.
Aid workers are providing clean water to the shanty town.
The film shows daily life in a shanty town in South Africa.
Word forms
| plural | shanty towns |
|---|
Common combinations
- a sprawling shanty town
- A sprawling shanty town has grown up around the factory.
- a shanty town on the outskirts
- They live in a shanty town on the outskirts of the capital.
- grow up in a shanty town
- She grew up in a shanty town and became a doctor.
- clear a shanty town
- The city plans to clear the shanty town to build new apartments.
Synonyms and how they differ
- slum
- A slum is an overcrowded, run-down part of a city, but its buildings may be permanent, whereas a shanty town is made of temporary, self-built shelters.
- informal settlement
- This is a more neutral, official term often used in reports and by aid organizations; it avoids the negative tone that 'shanty town' can carry.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'shanty town' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A shanty town is a poor area with roughly built shelters, so 'live without running water' fits. Option An is wrong because a shanty town is not a planned modern development; option C confuses it with a commercial property; option D contradicts the typical meaning of poverty and poor conditions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shanty town”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.