General Science

  • noun
    (written as NIMBY)
    used to describe people who are willing to accept development and building for various purposes, provided it is not near where they themselves are living.


  • noun an opponent of controversial legislation (typically on environmental issues), only so long as he or she is directly affected. The word is an acronym for the slogan or catchphrase ‘not in my back yard’, coined in the United States (where a ‘yard’ is a garden) in the 1980s to describe a syndrome whereby a person supports a potentially harmful move or policy in principle but opposes it for selfish reasons. The American expression entered common currency in Britain around 1986. (An unqualified opponent to the same issues is a namby.).


  • acronym fornot in my backyard
    (written as NIMBY)