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The Suburbs vs. the Urbs
Given that most of the common words in our language beginning sub- tend to have meanings concerned with “beneath” (as in subterranean and submarine) or “less than” (as with subpar), you would be forgiven for assuming that the suburbs were so named because of their location below, or their status as less than, their urban counterparts. Not so, however: sub- may have other meanings at the beginning of a word; in this case, it indicates not depth or inferiority, but proximity. In other words, the suburbs are a region close to the urbs.
Is urbs an English word? Yes; it is rarely used, but it refers typically to a city, particularly when distinguished from a suburb.
Examples of urban in a Sentence
Jamie Carter, Space.com, 28 Apr. 2026
The zoo is partnering with Outward Bound Adventures, the oldest nonprofit in the nation dedicated to getting people from urban areas out into nature and into a workforce that has often excluded them.
—Alys Martinez, CBS News, 28 Apr. 2026
After the Ground Zero event, the monarch, who prides himself on his environmental advocacy, will head uptown for a meeting in Harlem with a group that promotes urban farming programs for children and young people affected by hunger and food insecurity.
—Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 28 Apr. 2026
This valley feels not that different from the early 1990s, marked by destructive fires, the Hollywood slowdown, postpandemic urban woes, the homeless crisis and a City Hall hit by a series of scandals.
—Deputy Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for urban
Cite this Entry
“Urban.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/urban. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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urban
adjective
