rust belt

noun

often capitalized R&B

: the northeastern and midwestern states of the U.S. in which heavy industry has declined

called also rust bowl

Examples of rust belt in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And drug trafficking is one of the main reasons why it's being sold to parts of the country like Ohio, like West Virginia, Midwestern states, rust belt states. —Leah Feiger, WIRED, 17 Oct. 2024

So, as the Republican Convention wrapped, ABC’s Terry Moran hit the campaign trail to talk to voters in those key rust belt states to hear what's driving their vote. —ABC News, 21 July 2024

Their power was previously confined mainly to a few regions of the country, largely the rust belt in northeastern France and then a region in southeastern France along the coast. —Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 9 July 2024

When sectors in some regions decline—such as farming in the Midwest or manufacturing in the rust belt—people move to places with more jobs. —Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2016

Word History

First Known Use

1982, in the meaning defined above