suburban meaning and examples

2025-09-04

Meaning

  • Suburban (adjective): relating to or characteristic of a suburb, an area just outside a city where many people live, often with houses, schools, and shops.
  • It can also describe the lifestyle, culture, or people living in such areas.

Grammar and Usage

  • Part of speech: Adjective
  • Used before a noun: suburban area, suburban life, suburban house.
  • Can also be used figuratively to describe something as ordinary, safe, or lacking excitement: a very suburban taste in music.

Typical structures:

  • suburban + noun → suburban neighborhood, suburban train
  • noun + in the suburbs → They live in the suburbs of Tokyo.

Common Phrases

  • Suburban sprawl – uncontrolled expansion of housing into countryside areas.
  • Suburban lifestyle – the way of living in the suburbs.
  • Suburban train/railway – a train service connecting the city to suburban areas.

Collocations

  • suburban area
  • suburban community
  • suburban house
  • suburban shopping mall
  • suburban station

Examples

  1. They bought a new house in a quiet suburban neighborhood.
  2. Suburban trains run every 15 minutes during rush hour.
  3. The city has seen rapid suburban growth in the past decade.
  4. She prefers suburban life to the busy city center.
  5. Many suburban families commute to the city for work.
  6. Suburban sprawl has caused traffic and environmental problems.
  7. He grew up in a suburban town near Chicago.
  8. The new school will serve several suburban communities.
  • Synonyms: residential, outlying, commuter-belt
  • Related: rural (countryside), urban (city)