Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A shantytown on the outskirts of a city, especially in France or North Africa.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French : bidon, gas can, oildrum (from Old French, bottle, tankard, probably of Scandinavian origin) + ville, town; see village.]

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Examples

  • In daylight, the bidonville is a motley jumble of houses, a few shops,

    Books news, reviews and author interviews | guardian.co.uk Marcel Theroux 2010

  • You are an Algerian and the place you are living is a "bidonville" in some depressing Paris suburb coming from a proud African Arab family and here you are in Paris without hope and the town in which you were raised was a department of France but is now desert redoubt for Islamic terrorists and tell me where you go from there. tonyburton

    50-word story challenge. 2009

  • You are an Algerian and the place you are living is a "bidonville" in some depressing Paris suburb coming from a proud African Arab family and here you are in Paris without hope and the town in which you were raised was a department of France but is now desert redoubt for Islamic terrorists and tell me where you go from there. tonyburton

    50-word story challenge. 2009

  • You are an Algerian and the place you are living is a "bidonville" in some depressing Paris suburb coming from a proud African Arab family and here you are in Paris without hope and the town in which you were raised was a department of France but is now desert redoubt for Islamic terrorists and tell me where you go from there. tonyburton

    50-word story challenge. 2009

  • You are an Algerian and the place you are living is a "bidonville" in some depressing Paris suburb coming from a proud African Arab family and here you are in Paris without hope and the town in which you were raised was a department of France but is now desert redoubt for Islamic terrorists and tell me where you go from there. tonyburton

    50-word story challenge. 2009

  • You are an Algerian and the place you are living is a "bidonville" in some depressing Paris suburb coming from a proud African Arab family and here you are in Paris without hope and the town in which you were raised was a department of France but is now desert redoubt for Islamic terrorists and tell me where you go from there. tonyburton

    50-word story challenge. 2009

  • You are an Algerian and the place you are living is a "bidonville" in some depressing Paris suburb coming from a proud African Arab family and here you are in Paris without hope and the town in which you were raised was a department of France but is now desert redoubt for Islamic terrorists and tell me where you go from there. tonyburton

    50-word story challenge. 2009

  • You are an Algerian and the place you are living is a "bidonville" in some depressing Paris suburb coming from a proud African Arab family and here you are in Paris without hope and the town in which you were raised was a department of France but is now desert redoubt for Islamic terrorists and tell me where you go from there. tonyburton

    50-word story challenge. 2009

  • You are an Algerian and the place you are living is a "bidonville" in some depressing Paris suburb coming from a proud African Arab family and here you are in Paris without hope and the town in which you were raised was a department of France but is now desert redoubt for Islamic terrorists and tell me where you go from there. tonyburton

    50-word story challenge. 2009

  • You are an Algerian and the place you are living is a "bidonville" in some depressing Paris suburb coming from a proud African Arab family and here you are in Paris without hope and the town in which you were raised was a department of France but is now desert redoubt for Islamic terrorists and tell me where you go from there. tonyburton

    50-word story challenge. 2009

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