Standard Lemma guide

nimby

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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: dissenter, dissident, protester, objector, contestant

History

Etymology

Acronym of not in my back yard. More at NIMBY.

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.