NIMBY
(NIM.bee)
acronym.
A person who hopes or seeks to keep some dangerous or unpleasant feature out of his or her neighborhood.
—NIMBYism (NIM.bee.iz.um) n. The attitude of such a person.
Example Citation:
But to advocates of the mentally retarded, that kind of thinking, and all the hysteria surrounding E.G., are a reminder of the benighted days when all retarded people, even those who posed no threat to others, were seen as monsters and opening group homes for them triggered furious NIMBY campaigns.
—David M. Halbfinger, "Confidentiality Vs. a Warning Of Pedophilia," The New York Times, January 23, 2002
Earliest Citation:
People are now thoroughly alert to the dangers of hazardous chemical wastes.The very thought of having even a secure landfill anywhere near them is anathema to most Americans today. It's an attitude referred to in the trade as NIMBY — "not in my backyard."
—Emilie Travel Livezey, "Hazardous waste," The Christian Science Monitor, November 6, 1980
