SUBURBAN

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does suburban mean? 

• SUBURBAN (adjective)
  The adjective SUBURBAN has 1 sense:

1. relating to or characteristic of or situated in suburbs

  Familiarity information: SUBURBAN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUBURBAN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or characteristic of or situated in suburbs

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

suburban population

Pertainym:

suburb (a residential district located on the outskirts of a city)

Derivation:

suburbanize (make suburban in character)

suburbanize (take on suburban character)

suburbia (a residential district located on the outskirts of a city)

 Context examples 

As we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till at last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of horse police going their usual suburban round.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

At last, by a sudden impulse, just as our train was crawling out of a suburban station, he sprang on to the platform and pulled me out after him.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Includes nomadism; labor or seasonal migration; patterns of rural, urban, or suburban migration; or voluntary or forced relocation.

(Human Migration, NCI Thesaurus)

We had driven several miles, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he is acting for the best.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The study shows that 70 percent of existing forest lands are within a half-mile of forest edges, where encroaching urban, suburban and agricultural influences can cause harmful effects such as losses of plant and animal species.

(Shrinking habitats have adverse effects on world ecosystems, NSF)

A crowd of morbid sightseers were still gathered round Deep Dene House, which was just such a suburban villa as I had pictured.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A scientific expert would pronounce at once that this was drawn up on a suburban line, since nowhere save in the immediate vicinity of a great city could there be so quick a succession of points.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)