suburbia

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English

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WOTD – 22 September 2021

Etymology

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PIE word
*upó
Leafy suburbia – Hampton is an outer suburb of Greater London, U.K.

From suburb +‎ -ia (suffix forming abstract nouns, the names of collections of things, etc.)[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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suburbia (countable and uncountable, plural suburbias)

  1. (originally British) The suburbs as a whole and all that characterizes or pertains to them; (sometimes derogatory) the suburbs as encapsulated or represented by the typical characteristics or qualities of the people living there, especially complacency, conformity, conservativeness, dullness, etc. [from late 19th c.]
    Synonyms: suburbandom, suburbanhood, suburbanism, suburbanity
    • 1836, “BO′RGO”, in [George Long], editor, The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, volumes V (Blois–Buffalo), London: Charles Knight, […], →OCLC, page 184, column 2:
      The Germanic nations, in their invasions of Italy, introduced the appellation [borgo] into that country, where it was generally applied to the houses and streets built outside the gates of a walled town, corresponding to the Roman suburbia.
    • 1899, “DRAMA, THE, 98”, in W. Palmer, editor, Hazell’s Annual for 1899: A Cyclopædic Record of Men and Topics of the Day, Revised to November 22nd, 1898, London: Hazell, Watson, & Viney, […]; Hodder and Stoughton, […], →OCLC, page 203, column 2:
      The suburban establishments became more numerous, and in some instances the policy of following the central houses in the selection of entertainment was abandoned for that of enterprise, with the result that several plays originally produced in the outlying districts were deemed good enough for transference to mid theatrical London. […] The opportunities of aspiring dramatic authors being augmented, it is quite possible that in time Suburbia will become altogether independent of the Strand.
    • 1955 May 16, Eleanor M[artha] Hadley, “Statement of Miss Eleanor M. Hadley, on Behalf of American Association of Social Workers”, in Discussion of Federal Housing Programs: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate, Eighty-fourth Congress, First Session […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 311:
      We would like this committee to do some very real thinking on how housing can be provided minority groups. We are impressed with the trend to suburbia the country over, that suburbia is white, and that while we are making an effort to get under way renewal programs in the core of our cities, that when these areas do get renewed the persons who occupy the renewed portions are for the most part persons of white skin.
    • 1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 212:
      Others with young families prefer their children to live by the sea, rather than in suburbia, even if as a result one or both parents have to travel many miles to their work.
    • 1971 August 26, “District Court Proceedings of August 26, 1971”, in In the Supreme Court of the United States, October Term, 1972: The School Board of the City of Richmond, Virginia, et al., Petitioners, v. The State Board of Education of the Commonwealth of Virginia, et al., Carolyn Bradley, et al., Petitioners, v. The State Board of Education of the Commonwealth of Virginia, et al.: On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit […] Appendix (Nos. 72-549 and 72-550), volume II, [U.S.A.]: [s.n.], page 661a:
      Well, if it is because of increased affluence of people able to seek suburbia doesn't the economic factor become one of the principal reasons for the suburbia growing as it does? Only those who are affluent enough to go.
    • 1981 January 26, Marty Wilde, Ricky Wilde (lyrics and music), “Kids in America”, performed by Kim Wilde:
      Outside a new day is dawning / Outside suburbia is sprawling everywhere
    • 1986 March 24, Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe (lyrics and music), “Suburbia”, in Please, performed by the Pet Shop Boys:
      Let's take a ride and run with the dogs tonight / In suburbia / You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight / In suburbia
    • 2012, Andrew Martin, “Everywhere in Trains”, in Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, paperback edition, London: Profile Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 170:
      In essence, [John] Betjeman's poetry and prose reveal that he loved the inter-war suburbia of Metroland more than the suburbia it had evolved into by the 1970s, but he loved the countryside more than either.

Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “suburbia, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “suburbia, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Latin

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Noun

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suburbia

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of suburbium
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