mean streets
Rough urban territory
Mean streets are urban neighborhoods marked by poverty, crime, and danger.
The phrase evokes a gritty environment where survival requires street smarts: He grew up on the mean streets of Detroit.
It carries romantic undertones—the tough but authentic world of hustlers, fighters, and those who know how things really work.
- slumImpoverished urban district
- back alleyPassage behind buildings
- grittyCoarse or courageous
- crime-riddenFull of illegal activity
- gang territoryArea controlled by criminals
dangerous · seedy · harsh · neo-noir · ghettos · tough · violent · bad part of town · wrong side of the tracks · tenements · inner city · broken windows · asphalt jungle · urban · hopelessness · urban decay · other side of the tracks · concrete jungle
- Noirfemme fatale, detective, gumshoe, hard-boiled, trench coats
- urban fictionurban drama, urban fiction, city life, inner city, tenement life
mean streetsgated community
Restricted-access residential area
safe haven · tree-lined streets · quiet streets · idyllic village · small-town America
mean streetsaffluent neighborhood
Prosperous residential area
wealthy enclave · Beverly Hills · Park Avenue · easy street · gentrified area
mean streetsfriendly neighborhood
Warm, familiar community
close-knit community · nurturing environment · Mayberry · Pleasantville · Bedford Falls
mean, means, meant, meaning, meaningful, meaningless, meaningfully, street, streets