ghetto

Syllables: ghet·toUK/ˈɡɛ.təʊ/US/ˈɡɛ.toʊ/

ghetto noun: an (often walled) area of a city in which Jews are concentrated by force and law. (Used particularly of areas in medieval Italy and in Nazi-controlled Europe.).

Noun

ghetto (plural ghettos or ghettoes or ghetti)

An (often walled) area of a city in which Jews are concentrated by force and law. (Used particularly of areas in medieval Italy and in Nazi-controlled Europe.)
- The Venetian ghetto, according to Sennett, was to provide protection from the unclean bodies of the Jews and their sullying touch. The Roman ghetto, on the other hand, was planned as an area for mission. It was supposed to collect the Jews in one place, so that it would be easier to convert them.2009, Barbara Engelking-Boni, Jacek Leociak, The Warsaw ghetto: a guide to the perished city, →ISBN, page 25
- […] concentrating the Jewish community into ghettoes. The Germans not only started the ghettoes, but they had also opened a concentration camp […]2010, Mike Lindner, Leaving Terror Behind: A Boy's Journey to Painting Over the Past, →ISBN, page 49
An (often impoverished) area of a city inhabited predominantly by members of a specific nationality, ethnicity, or race.
- Charlestown would also become one of Boston's three large Irish ghettoes.1998, Steven J. L. Taylor, Desegregation in Boston and Buffalo: The Influence of Local Leaders, →ISBN, page 15
- By 1960 the growth and development of Chicago's black areas of residence confirmed the existence of the city's second ghetto.1998, Arnold R. Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960, →ISBN, page 253
Synonyms:

barrio, bad part of town, estate, favela, Hell's Kitchen, jects, projects, scheme, shantytown, sink estate
An area in which people who are distinguished by sharing something other than ethnicity concentrate or are concentrated.
- Counterhegemonic spaces imagined as bounded territories ensure that heteronormativity is fixed beyond the borders of the gay ghetto. The rural and suburban lives of lesbian and gay people are made invisible and signified as inauthentic.2006, Gay tourism: culture and context, Gordon Waitt, Kevin Markwell, →ISBN, page 201
- The student ghetto, southwest of the centre, is inside the triangle formed by [three streets] and is full of open-air bars, internet cafés, fast-food shops — and students.2007, Romania & Moldova, Robert Reid, Leif Pettersen, →ISBN, page 190
(derogatory, figuratively, sometimes) An isolated, self-contained, segregated subsection, area or field of interest; often of minority or specialist interest.
- Abraham Merritt wrote for the pulps and never in his lifetime achieved critical success. Yet he had a devoted following in the science fiction ghetto who admired the clarity of his style and his power to evoke moods.1983, Eric S. Rabkin, Science Fiction: A Historical Anthology, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 249
- Invent is undoubtedly the wrong word, but the push from government was crucial in getting the Internet out of its academic ghetto.2012, Andrew Blum, Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet, →ISBN
Synonyms:

ivory tower

Adjective

ghetto (comparative more ghetto, superlative most ghetto)

Of or relating to a ghetto or to ghettos in general.
- Those residing in ghetto communities were particularly ill equipped to adapt to the seismic changes taking place in the U.S. economy; they were left isolated and jobless.2012, Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, →ISBN, page 50
(informal, slang) Unseemly and indecorous or of low quality; cheap; shabby, crude.
- My apartment's so ghetto, the rats and cockroaches filed a complaint with the city!
- I like to drive ghetto cars; if they break down you can just abandon them and pick up a new one!
(US, derogatory, informal, offensive, often) Characteristic of the style, speech, or behavior of residents of a predominantly black or other ghetto in the United States.
- The music I liked was very ghetto and gritty. It was the stuff that didn't really cross over much, but spoke to a roots black experience. People don't understand this now, but the falsetto, crying singers were the most ghetto back then.2002, Russell Simmons, Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money, + God, page 26
- You're the one that grew up in the suburbs and you act way more ghetto than I do.” “I am not ghetto.” Val said in an English accent and broke out laughing.2007, S. L. Mitchell, Gypsy's Crossing
Having been raised in a ghetto in the United States.

Verb

ghetto (third-person singular simple present ghettoes, present participle ghettoing, simple past and past participle ghettoed)

(transitive) To confine (a specified group of people) to a ghetto.
- This is, in brief, a part of the story of the ghettoing of a large segment of Denver's Negro population.1964, James A. Atkins, The age of Jim Crow, page 274
- All African states practised racist policies. In the 1950s and 1960s, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia expelled more than a quarter of a million Jews and ghettoed the few thousand who remained. In the 1960s the United Republic of Tanzania expelled its Arabs or deprived them of equal...2001, Paul Johnson, Modern Times Revised Edition: World from the Twenties to the Nineties, →ISBN, page 526

ghetto meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

ghetto in Hindi

area of a city in which Jews were concentrated: बस्ती

ghetto in Marathi

घेट्टो, घेट्टोला

ghetto in Urdu

یہودیوں کا محلہ

ghetto in Bengali

ঘেটো, ঘেট্টো

More languagesFewer languages

ghetto in Telugu: ఘెట్టో, ఘెట్టొ
ghetto in Malayalam: ഘെട്ടോ, ഘെറ്റോ, ഘെട്ടൊ
ghetto in Kannada: ಕೊಳೆಗೇರಿ
ghetto in Odia: ଘେଟ୍ଟୋ, ଘେଟୋ
ghetto in Nepali: घेट्टो, घेट्टोमा, घेटोमा
ghetto in Arabic: غِيتُو ḡītū
ghetto in Persian: گتو geto

Examples of ghetto in a sentence

Established by the Germans in October 1940, the Warsaw Ghetto was the largest Jewish ghetto in German-occupied Europe.2023 April 19, Lianne Kolirin, “One of the last survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto resistance tells of the bravery of those who dared to stand...
They're back in the student ghetto now, on oak-shaded streets lined with run-down houses filled with nonnuclear families of all varieties and kinds.2001, Justin Taylor, The Gospel of Anarchy: A Novel, →ISBN, page 64:
Or is it that DC. is more ghetto than Philly?2007, Cora Daniels, Ghettonation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and Home of the Shameless, page 11:
It was like an awesome trip walking though the old house on Douglas, a lot had changed and my dad had it looking more ghetto than ever.2011, Taylor Goetz, 169 Pages Of My Life, page 61:

All 40 example sentences with ghetto

Synonyms of ghetto

2 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of ghetto

Forms of ghetto

Noun
plural	ghettos
plural	ghettoes
plural	ghetti
Adjective
comparative	more ghetto
superlative	most ghetto
Verb
third-person singular present	ghettoes
present participle	ghettoing
past participle	ghettoed
past	ghettoed

Plural of ghetto: ghettos or ghettoes

Origin of ghetto

Borrowed from the name of the Venetian Ghetto, whose etymology and original source language is uncertain. Compare Italian ghetto.

Words formed from ghetto

Phrases with ghetto

Words that rhyme with ghetto

6 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ghetto

What does ghetto mean?: Ghetto means an (often walled) area of a city in which Jews are concentrated by force and law. (Used particularly of areas in medieval Italy and in Nazi-controlled Europe.).
What is ghetto in Hindi?: Ghetto in Hindi is बस्ती. See Ghetto meaning in Hindi.
How do you use ghetto in a sentence?: Established by the Germans in October 1940, the Warsaw Ghetto was the largest Jewish ghetto in German-occupied Europe.
What part of speech is ghetto?: Ghetto can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce ghetto?: Ghetto is pronounced /ˈɡɛ.təʊ/ (UK).
What is the plural of ghetto?: The plural of ghetto is ghettos.

Words near ghetto in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: ghetto (page history and authors); ghetto (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ghetto (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ghetto (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ghetto (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ghetto (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ghetto (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ghetto (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ghetto (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-au-ghetto.ogg.

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