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NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)

Definition of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)

(noun) Acronym for “Not In My Back Yard”, which is the tendency for people to protest issues, particularly environmental, that affect them directly.

Example of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)

  • When they were told that coal seam gas (CSG) would be mined in their area, the people said “NIMBY, Not in my Back Yard”.

NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: NIM·BY not in my back yard

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /nIm-bee (nAHt In mIE bAk yAHRd)/
  • British English – /nIm-bee (nOt In mIE bAk yAHd)/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /ˈnɪmbi (nɑt ɪn maɪ bæk jɑrd)/
  • British English – /(nɒt ɪn maɪ bæk jɑːd)/

Usage Note

  • Variant spelling: nimby

Additional Information

Related Terms


Works Consulted

Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.

Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard).” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved March 28, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/nimby-not-in-my-back-yard/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard). (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/nimby-not-in-my-back-yard/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard).” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed March 28, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/nimby-not-in-my-back-yard/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard).” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/nimby-not-in-my-back-yard/>.