overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

NIMBY.

Opposition to something deemed harmful or unpleasant being located in one's own neighborhood.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈnɪmbi/
  1. Opposition to something deemed harmful or unpleasant being located in one's own neighborhood.

    uncountable
  2. Synonym of nimby.

    countable
Where this word comes from

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.

adj/ˈnɪmbi/
  1. Synonym of nimby.

Where this word comes from

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.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

NIMBY has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

NIMBY studioNIMBY workshello, NIMBY

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.