gentrification

/d͡ʒɛn.tɹɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/

gentrification noun: the renewal and rebuilding that accompanies the influx of middle class or affluent people into deteriorating areas and often displaces earlier, usually poorer, residents; any example of such a process.

Noun

gentrification (countable and uncountable, plural gentrifications)

(urban studies) The renewal and rebuilding that accompanies the influx of middle class or affluent people into deteriorating areas and often displaces earlier, usually poorer, residents; any example of such a process.
- Labour's manifesto contains the wild promise of 'war on the private landlord,' but this may conceal a real determination to use the powers of compulsory purchase to prevent the existing residents of places like North Kensington being driven out by the twin forces of 'gentrification' and development.1973 April 8, Jeremy Bugler, “Tomorrow's London”, in The Observer, London, retrieved 12 Sep 2016, page 13
- Who told you to buy a brownstone on my block, in my neighborhood, on my side of the street? Yo, what you wanna live in a Black neighborhood for, anyway? Man, motherfuck gentrification.1989, Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing, spoken by Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito)
A geographical area that is gradually becoming prosperous due to investment.

gentrification meaning in Bengali and Malay

gentrification in Bengali

অভিজাতায়ন

gentrification in Malay

process of renewal accompanying an influx of relatively affluent people: gentrifikasi

Examples of gentrification in a sentence

In particular, the focus is on property value changes and gentrification in Portland that are often attributed to urban growth and containment policies within the state.2007, Arthur C. Nelson et al., The Social Impacts of Urban Containment, Ashgate, →ISBN, page 71:
The irony is that the forum quickly shifted to discussions on race as it frequently does when gentrification is discussed.2010, Jerry Carrier, The Making of the Slave Class, Algora, →ISBN, page 177:

All 10 example sentences with gentrification

Forms of gentrification

plural	gentrifications

Origin of gentrification

From gentry + -ification, after gentrify. Coined by German-born British sociologist Ruth Glass in 1964.

Words formed from gentrification

Words that rhyme with gentrification

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about gentrification

What does gentrification mean?: Gentrification means the renewal and rebuilding that accompanies the influx of middle class or affluent people into deteriorating areas and often displaces earlier, usually poorer, residents; any example of such a process.
What is gentrification in Bengali?: Gentrification in Bengali is অভিজাতায়ন. See Gentrification meaning in Bengali.
How do you use gentrification in a sentence?: In particular, the focus is on property value changes and gentrification in Portland that are often attributed to urban growth and containment policies within the state.
What part of speech is gentrification?: Gentrification is a noun.
How do you pronounce gentrification?: Gentrification is pronounced /d͡ʒɛn.tɹɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/.
What is the plural of gentrification?: The plural of gentrification is gentrifications.

Words near gentrification in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: gentrification (page history and authors); Gentrification (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-gentrification.wav.

Cite this entry: “gentrification.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gentrification. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.