borough
borough Lexical Profile
borough Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A town or district that acts as an administrative unit, particularly one of the five major divisions of New York City or one of the thirty-two administrative areas of Greater London.
"She commuted daily by subway from her apartment in the outer borough of Queens to her office in Manhattan."
American An incorporated, self-governing municipality in certain US states (such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut) that is typically smaller than a city, or an administrative division in Alaska equivalent to a county.
"The borough council voted unanimously to approve the new zoning regulations for the historic downtown area."
British Historically, a town in England granted a royal charter of municipal privileges or the right to send representatives to Parliament.
"The Reform Act of 1832 abolished many sparsely populated parliamentary boroughs that had fallen under the control of wealthy patrons."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse 'borough' (a municipal district or town) with its homophone 'burrow' (an underground animal tunnel or to dig into the ground) or the near-homophone 'burro' (a small donkey).
• Rhymes for borough
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'burh' (dative singular 'byrig'), meaning a fortified enclosure, stronghold, or town, from Proto-Germanic '*burgz', akin to German 'Burg' and the common place-name suffixes '-bury' and '-burgh'.