shantytown

[shan-tee-toun] /ˈʃæn tiˌtaʊn/

noun

a section, as of a city or town, characterized by shanties and crudely built houses.

a whole town or city that is chiefly made up of shantylike houses.

Origin

1880-85; shanty¹ + town

Examples from the web for shantytown

Within hours, troops swept into the shantytown and burned down every structure except a bank.
It was a shantytown, with hundreds and hundreds of houses packed on to one hillside near the river.
It can also alleviate some of the pain of shantytown life with appropriate technology.
The family has settled into its mostly renovated house, which adjoins a muddy shantytown.
Development was heading eastward and the presence of this shantytown was seen as an impediment.

British Dictionary definitions for shantytown

/ˈʃæntɪˌtaʊn/

noun

a town or section of a town or city inhabited by very poor people living in shanties, esp in a developing country

Word Origin and History for shantytown

also shanty town, 1836, from shanty (n.1) + town.

Slang definitions & phrases for shantytown

noun

A poor, dilapidated neighborhood
cluster of makeshift dwellings, often on the edge of a town and inhabited by the vagrant or the very poor; hooverville (1876+)