favela

noun

Definition of favelanext
as in jungle

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of favela Upper-class directors making films about very impoverished regions and communities—the classic themes, hunger and violence in the favelas. — Stephania Taladrid, New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2026 Now a community organizer and member of an anti-violence collective who works in the favela, Medeiros is no stranger to how the Red Command instills fear in its territories. — Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 9 Nov. 2025 Brazilian police seized a record 48 tons of marijuana in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, uncovered by chance by a sniffer dog during a regular operation against criminal factions. — CBS News, 8 Apr. 2026 Official samba schools began forming in the 1930s, bringing the (previously criminalised) dance into the mainstream and celebrating an art form produced by Rio’s favela communities (Afro-Brazilian heritage is still at the heart). — Laura French, TheWeek, 18 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for favela
Recent Examples of Synonyms for favela
  1. jungle
  2. shantytown
  3. encampment
Noun
  • Previous dinners explored the floating markets of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam’s islands, and its jungle regions.
    — Karen Yuan, Vogue, 3 July 2026
  • There is no road to Chuao, and it is surrounded by thick jungle, so everything in the town has to be brought there by boat.
    — Armando Ledezma, New Yorker, 30 June 2026
Definition of jungle
Noun
  • As the family moved through the shantytown’s narrow streets, gunfire erupted.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 20 May 2026
  • Late one night in Payatas, a shantytown near a garbage dump in Manila’s outskirts, Santiago knocked on the door of a funeral office.
    — Sheila Coronel, The Atlantic, 13 Mar. 2026
Definition of shantytown
Noun
  • The city, said Gardner, already spends millions on encampment abatement contracts.
    — Hema Sivanandam, Mercury News, 6 July 2026
  • Poor went on to serve in the 13th Massachusetts Regiment in the Saratoga Campaign and the Valley Forge winter encampment.
    — Catherine Messier, The Providence Journal, 4 July 2026
Definition of encampment

Browse Nearby Words

fave
favela
favelas
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Cite this Entry

“Favela.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/favela. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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