adj · noun · phrase · 8 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/ˈnɪm.bi/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɪmbi
/ˈnɪmbi/
CMU ARPABET:N IH1 M B IY0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
adj
Meaning 1
Not wanting to have to deal with unpleasant or distasteful things near them.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
Their vote against measures to help refugees has been perceived by the socially conscious margin of society as a typically nimby attitude.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
adj
Meaning 2
Synonym of nimby.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: nimby
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
Someone who objects to the building of an undesirable structure in their neighborhood, especially in public policy debate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, usually
Examples
politically correct green (as in vegetation) nimbies (may object to nuclear power plants, polluting factories, etc.)
socially conservative brown (as in shirts) nimbies (may object to the building of jails, prisons, housing for ex-convicts, drinking or adult entertainment establishments)
fiscally conservative green (as in money) nimbies (may object to the building of anything which may decrease preexisting property values)
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
Opposition to something deemed harmful or unpleasant being located in one's own neighborhood.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
Synonym of nimby.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: nimby
Antonyms: none provided
6
phrase
Meaning 6
Not in my backyard (in objection to an undesirable structure built locally).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
phrase
Meaning 7
Alternative letter-case form of nimby.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, US, alt-of
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
someone who objects to siting something in their own neighborhood but does not object to it being sited elsewhere; an acronym for not in my backyard
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Was used in a 1980 article by British writer Emilie Travel Livezey; popularized by British politician Nicholas Ridley, who was Conservative Secretary of State for the Environment. Prior to that, Joseph A. Lieberman, a member of the US Atomic Energy Commission, gave a keynote address in early 1979 at the Fort Magruder Conference Center in which he reportedly asserted that "the 'nimby' (not in my backyard) syndrome must be eliminated." As reported in the Newport News (Virginia) Daily Press, Tuesday, February 13th, 1979, "Radioactive Waste: National Regulations Needed." Source: WorldHistories.net.