Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A shantytown or slum, especially in Brazil.
Wiktionary
- n. A slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil
Etymologies
- From Portuguese favela. (Wiktionary)
- Portuguese, possibly from diminutive of favo, honeycomb (from Latin favus) or from favelas (probably from pl. of favela, spurge, from fava, bean, from Latin faba). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Like in human shantytowns, the main challenge facing the dog favela is making ends meet.”
“Anyone brought up in the favela is used to the sound of guns, he says. âAnd anyway, if the guy shoots in the air, it means he likes the song. â”
“In 1897, it was the site of the world's first "favela" - a seizure of vacant lands by former slaves seeking a better life in the city.”
“Paul Goldberger, a writer for New Yorker magazine, described the area as a "favela" - a word for a Brazilian slum.”
“Enhanced with the sort of hopefulness found in Slumdog Millionaire, this real life fable tells the tale of a group of slum kids living in what's known as the favela, who were staying out of trouble by creating their own alternate world.”
Brad Balfour: Take a Trip To MoMa's Premiere Brazil Film Festival This July
“The favela was the setting for an award-winning documentary about cocaine by the British film-maker Angus Macqueen, as well as a”
“An example Bruce Sterling calls favela chic -- an oxymoron that's an appropriate description of cultural methodologies that are essential to completely bypassing the impact of perpetual global depression/breakdown.”
“Brazil there is misery, the "favela", just like in any other country of Latin America.”
“This is basically a party in the favela which is organized by the drug lords.”
TravelPod.com TravelStream™ — Recent Entries at TravelPod.com
“In Fortaleza (a large city in Brazil's impoverished Northeast), a "favela”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘favela’.
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phrontistery - f
from phrontistery.info
fustilarian, fusillation, fustian, futurology, fusiform, futurition, fusee, fuscous, fusain, furunculoid, futtock, furibund and 418 more...
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Realia from Everywhere
Culturally defined terms and expressions from the four corners of the world
fjord, mistral steppe, tornado, tsunami, polder, kiwi, koala, sequoia, Abominable Snowman, paprika, spaghetti, empanada and 299 more...
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not prime real estate
describing areas where the poor, unhomed and oppressed are found. Some of these didn't belong in miserable circumstances.
villa miseria, urban decay, urban blight, trailer park, township, tent city, Tenderloin, squalor, slurb, slum, skid row, sink of corruption and 35 more...
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Words That Mean Things
I found most of these words in books! That means they MUST be good.
flinders, periplus, palaver, midden, cadge, legerdemain, flense, lapidary, geas, bailey, susurration, satoris and 128 more...
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ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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vinyl's Words
deliverator, finna, metric fuckton, fag, hyphy, ginormous, sacrilicious, fantabulous, macaca, n-word, pterodactyl, genious and 560 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1380 more...
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favorite words
sawbones, grackle, celadon, brio, loam, trull, mint, saliva, serape, frisson, impasto, reek and 546 more...
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Newsweek
All the words that are fit to be made up. Or, you know, to get into a weekly newsmagazine. I've been meaning to make this list for a long time.
brohawk, blasian, ghitalian, mcmansion, mcstrip mall, cornet wales, i could tell you ..., mackerel-snapper, tous les beaux es..., in the tank, longheadedness, kusa and 101 more...
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Time Out New York
words looked up while copyediting for this magazine
tonsorial, nudnick, doyenne, lothario, ebon, compere, cloaca, carom, evince, jocosity, profligacy, favela and 110 more...
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Things / Objects / Minor
ocelot, tesserae, ukulele, favela, usquebaugh, aquarium, ayahuasca, curandero, habitué, atelier, soubrette, Zelig and 13 more...
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City Slickers
metropolitan, metropolis, megalopolis, megacity, town, village, hamlet, neighborhood, urban, suburban, commute, metro and 15 more...
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Classassin
Class^Warfare$$$$!
arriviste, parvenu, gigmania, dyvoury, thugly, déclassé, stalko, sudden loss of we..., guttersnipe, mesocracy, nouveau riche, bourgeois and 71 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for favela.
chained_bear "Rio's lawmen are once again confronting favela drug lords; six of the meanest slums have been declared bandit-free, including the infamous Cidade de Deus (City of God). In a city of 1,000 favelas, half of which are rotten with trafficantes that's a drop in the ocean...."
—Mac Margolis, "Brazil Purifies the 'City of God,' Newsweek, January 25, 2010 Mar 17, 2010
whichbe Slum area. (from Phrontistery) May 24, 2008