slum

Definition of slum in English English dictionary: To associate with people or engage in activities with a status below one's own; To visit a neighborhood of a status below one's own; A dilapidated neighborhood where many people live in a state of poverty; A slum is an area of a city where living conditions are very bad and where the houses are in bad condition. inner-city slums in the old cities of the north and east. slum it/be slumming to spend time in conditions that are much worse than you are used to - often used humorously. Densely populated area of substandard housing, usually in a city, characterized by unsanitary conditions and social disorganization. Rapid industrialization in 19th-century Europe was accompanied by rapid population growth and the concentration of working-class people in overcrowded, poorly built housing. England passed the first legislation for building low-income housing to certain minimum standards in 1851; laws for slum clearance were first enacted in 1868. In the U.S., slum development coincided with the arrival of large numbers of immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; laws concerning adequate ventilation, fire protection, and sanitation in urban housing were passed in the late 1800s. In the 20th century government and private organizations built low-income housing and appropriated funds for urban renewal and offered low-interest home loans. Shantytowns, which often grow up around urban centres in developing countries as rural populations migrate to the cities in search of employment, are one type of slum for which alleviating measures have yet to be successfully introduced. See also urban planning; To visit or frequent slums, esp; {f} visit slums, visit poor run-down neighborhoods (especially out of curiosity or for entertainment); To associate with people or engage in activities with a status below ones own; A foul back street of a city, especially one filled with a poor, dirty, degraded, and often vicious population; any low neighborhood or dark retreat; usually in the plural; as, Westminster slums are haunts for theives; Same as Slimes; a district of a city marked by poverty and inferior living conditions; a district of a city marked by poverty and inferior living conditions visit slums for entertainment or out of curiosity; visit slums for entertainment or out of curiosity; To visit a neighborhood of a status below ones own; out of curiosity, or for purposes of study, etc; {i} poor neighborhood, densely populated poverty-stricken area of a city; run-down and squalid residence that is unfit for human habitation
slumming: Visiting slums
slumming: present participle of slum
slums: plural of slum
slums: {i} poor neighborhoods, densely populated poverty-stricken areas
slums: third-person singular of slum