tenement

noun

ten·​e·​ment ˈte-nə-mənt 

1

a

: tenement house

b

: apartment, flat

c

: a house used as a dwelling : residence

2

: any of various forms of corporeal property (such as land) or incorporeal property that is held by one person from another

3

: dwelling

Synonyms

• apartment
• diggings [chiefly British]
• digs
• flat [chiefly British]
• lodgings
• suite

Examples of tenement in a Sentence

an exhibit of pictures showing the tenements of the New York City neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen during the 1920s

Recent Examples on the Web

Immigrant Irish, Italians, Greeks, Russians, Poles, Albanians, Lebanese, Lithuanians, Jews and Blacks all lived together in relative harmony in brick tenement buildings, not unlike the structures today on the Cambridge Street side of Beacon Hill. —Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 20 Feb. 2025

Lawmakers restricted livestock in tenements and ordered manure to be cleaned up from yards and vacant lots. —Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 30 Jan. 2025

When Peter Orlovsky opens the door to their rundown tenement apartment, Hujar is left standing around awkwardly until Ginsberg acknowledges him. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan. 2025

The exclusive dining rooms were part of what helped establish the buildings’ allure in a city that back then had a thriving elite class, even as two-thirds of the rest of the population crowded into tenements. —Dionne Searcey, New York Times, 22 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "the holding of property, the property so held, building, dwelling," borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin tenementum, tenimentum, teneamentum, from Latin tenēre "to hold, occupy, possess" + -mentum -ment — more at tenant entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing tenement

• tenement house

Rhymes for tenement

• presentiment

Kids Definition

tenement

noun

ten·​e·​ment ˈten-ə-mənt 

1

a

: a house used as a dwelling

b

: apartment sense 1, flat

c

: tenement house

2

: dwelling

Legal Definition

tenement

noun

ten·​e·​ment ˈte-nə-mənt 

1

a

: any of various forms of property (as land) that is held by one person from another

b

: an estate in property

2

: dwelling

Etymology

Anglo-French, from Old French, from Medieval Latin tenementum, from Latin tenēre to hold