ghetto Definition
ghetto (get′ō)
noun pl. -·tos or -·toes
- in certain European cities, a section to which Jews were formerly restricted
- any section of a city in which many members of some minority group live, or to which they are restricted as by economic pressure or social discrimination
Etymology: It, lit., foundry (< gettare, to pour < VL *jectare, for L jactare, to throw, cast), name of a quarter in Venice occupied by Jews, orig. location of a cannon foundry
ghetto Usage Examples
Converse of object
- escape: I didn't want to escape the disability ghetto only to lock myself into a virtual ghetto.
- create: With taxpayers billions, New Labor is creating a new ghetto.
- become: Should the Western Balkans become a new ghetto inside Europe?
- form: The first is to withdraw from the world and form a Christian ghetto.
- have: Then the people in their areas wonder why they have a ghetto?
- leave: To start with, you almost never leave the ghetto itself - perhaps once a week to pray at the dazzling Imam Reza shrine.
Adjective modifier
- Jewish: In order to get there, he has to pass through a Jewish ghetto.
- Polish: Labor MP Ms King, who is Jewish, said Gaza was " the same in nature " as the infamous Polish ghetto.
- urban: These are no mean street kids, desperate for cash in an urban ghetto.
- gay: This is not about creating a ' gay ghetto ' - obviously LGBT people live all over the city.
- ethnic: The people in the center of the ethnic ghetto normally live in the worse housing, and areas.
- black: The result was riots in black ghettos in East Coast cities.
Modifies a noun
- blaster: Indeed, he can't resist slipping a CD of early mixes into a nearby ghetto blaster.
- blasters: At least 10 score pirates had answered our call, bringing with them beat boxes and ghetto blasters to form our sound system.
- uprising: The photographs range from the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 to the ghetto uprisings in 1968.
- mentality: We must discard our ghetto mentality and break down the barriers between them and us.
- kid: Recently I saw a documentary about some Hispanic ghetto kids in a school in Los Angeles.
- youth: Damian Marley: Welcome to Jamrock Jamaica: Ghetto Youths: GY1.
Noun used with modifier
Browse dictionary entries near ghetto
- ghetto blaster ›
- ghettoize ›
- Ghibelline ›
- Ghiberti ›
- ghillie ›
- Ghirlandaio ›
- ghost ›
- ghost dance ›
- ghost town ›
- ghost word ›

