Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Browse Nearby Entries
ghetto
6 dictionary results for: ghetto
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
ghet·to       [get-oh] Pronunciation Key
–noun, plural -tos, -toes.
1.a section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships.
2.(formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live.
3.a section predominantly inhabited by Jews.
4.any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment: job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly.
[Origin: 1605–15; < It, orig. the name of an island near Venice where Jews were forced to reside in the 16th century < Venetian, lit., foundry for artillery (giving the island its name), n. deriv. of ghettare to throw < VL *jectāre; see jet1]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ghet·to       (gět'ō)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. ghet·tos or ghet·toes
  1. A usually poor section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination.
  2. An often walled quarter in a European city to which Jews were restricted beginning in the Middle Ages.
  3. Something that resembles the restriction or isolation of a city ghetto: "trapped in ethnic or pink-collar managerial job ghettoes" (Diane Weathers).


[Italian, after Ghetto, island near Venice where Jews were made to live in the 16th century.]

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ghetto 
1611, from It. ghetto "part of a city to which Jews are restricted," various theories of its origin include: Yiddish get "deed of separation;" special use of Venetian getto "foundry" (there was one near the site of that city's ghetto in 1516); Egitto "Egypt," from L. Aegyptus (presumably in memory of the exile); or It. borghetto "small section of a town" (dim. of borgo, of Gmc. origin, see borough). Extended 1892 to crowded urban quarters of other minority groups. Ghetto-blaster "large portable stereo" is from 1982.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
ghetto

noun
1. formerly the restricted quarter of many European cities in which Jews were required to live; "the Warsaw ghetto" 
2. any segregated mode of living or working that results from bias or stereotyping; "the relative security of the gay ghetto"; "no escape from the ghetto of the typing pool" 
3. a poor densely populated city district occupied by a minority ethnic group linked together by economic hardship and social restrictions 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Ghetto

Ghet"to\, n. [It.] The Jews'quarter in an Italian town or city.

I went to the Ghetto, where the Jews dwell. --Evelyn.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Ghetto

Ghet"to\, n. A quarter of a city where Jews live in greatest numbers.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
Share This:Share This: digg.comShare This: ma.gnolia.comShare This: www.stumbleupon.comShare This: del.icio.usShare This: FacebookShare This: favorites.live.comShare This: www.technorati.comShare This: furl.netShare This: myweb2.search.yahoo.comShare This: www.google.com