ghetto

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

• noun A usually poor section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination.
• noun An often walled quarter in a European city to which Jews were restricted beginning in the Middle Ages.
• noun Something that resembles the restriction or isolation of a city ghetto.
• adjective In a manner typical or stereotypical of an impoverished urban area, as in being makeshift, garish, or crass.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The quarter in certain Italian towns in which Jews were formerly compelled to live exclusively.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A quarter of a city where Jews live in greatest numbers.
• noun Any section of a town inhabited predominantly by members of a specific ethnic, national or racial group, such segregation usually arising from social or economic pressure. The term is commonly applied to areas in cities having a high concentration of low-income African-Americans.
• noun Any isolated group of people.
• noun Any group isolated by external pressures, with an implication of inferiority.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An (often walled) area of a city in which Jews are concentrated by force and law. (Used particularly of areas in medieval Italy and in Nazi-controlled Europe.)
• noun An (often impoverished) area of a city inhabited predominantly by members of a specific nationality, ethnicity, or race.
• noun An area in which people who are distinguished by sharing something other than ethnicity concentrate or are concentrated.
• adjective Of or relating to a ghetto or to ghettos in general.
• adjective slang, informal Of low quality; cheap; shabby, crude.
• adjective US, informal Characteristic of the style, speech, or behavior of residents of a predominantly black or other ghetto in the United States.
• adjective Having been raised in a ghetto in the United States.
• verb To confine (a specified group of people) to a ghetto.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun formerly the restricted quarter of many European cities in which Jews were required to live
• noun a poor densely populated city district occupied by a minority ethnic group linked together by economic hardship and social restrictions
• noun any segregated mode of living or working that results from bias or stereotyping