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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�y��vlog 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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�y��vlog 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.

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

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

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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.

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Guiding the audience through halftime, he made remarks like “Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto” after Lamar’s performance of “Squabble Up.”

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“Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto! Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game?”

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