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slum

Definition

  • noun: an area of a city where poor people live and the buildings are in bad condition
  • noun: a densely populated usually urban area marked by crowding, dirty run-down housing, poverty, and social disorganization
  • verb: to spend time in places or conditions that are much worse than your usual places or conditions
  • verb: to visit 'slums' especially out of curiosity
  • sometimes used with 'it'

Examples

  • He sometimes likes to 'go slumming' in bars around the city.

  • She's never been one to 'slum' around (in cheap hotels).

  • He had no problem 'slumming (it)' in cheap hotels.

Movie clips

Movie quotes

  • (..) We can't help that. We're here to decide his innocence or guilt, not to go into the reasons why he grew up the way he did. He was born in a slum. Slums are breeding grounds for criminals. It's no secret that children from slums are potential menaces to society. I think... (..)
    1957 12 Angry Men
  • (..) All right, then you tell me. What are we sitting here for? I don't know. Maybe no reason. Look, this kid's been kicked around all of his life. You know, born in a slum, mother dead since he was nine. He lived for a year and a half in an orphanage when his father was serving a jail term for forgery. (..)
    1957 12 Angry Men