apartment

noun

apart·​ment ə-ˈpärt-mənt 

plural apartments

1

: a room or set of rooms fitted especially with housekeeping facilities and usually leased as a dwelling

2

: a building containing several individual apartments

3

British : a large and impressive room or set of rooms

—usually plural

Assured that the Queen and Prince Philip had retired to bed, Mr Hillyard tried to pass through the Royal apartments as the train left Aberdeen on its journey to London.

—Jonathan Petre

apartmental

ə-ˌpärt-ˈmen-tᵊl 

adjective

Synonyms

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

Examples of apartment in a Sentence

We lived in an apartment for several years before buying a house.

a spacious six-room apartment that occupies the entire upper floor of a two-family house

Recent Examples on the Web

Sometimes they get caught at county fairs, apartment complexes or places like Billy Jack’s Shack. —Ryan Oehrli, Charlotte Observer, 8 June 2024

On Thursday, a murder-suicide in a Coral Gables apartment complex left a man and woman dead and her 20-year-old son wounded. —Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 8 June 2024

Officers responded to the apartments in the 2100 block of Cypress Club Drive about 10 p.m. after residents reported hearing gunshots outside a building, according to a police news release. —Amy McDaniel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 June 2024

Last year, developers submitted preliminary plans for two eight-story buildings, together with up to 360 apartments, on the last two vacant blocks in a nine-block master plan the Oceanside City Council approved more than 20 years ago for area. —Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

French appartement, from Italian appartamento

First Known Use

circa 1645, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing apartment

• apartment building
• apartment hotel
• duplex apartment
• efficiency apartment
• garden apartment
• in-law apartment
• mother-in-law apartment
• studio apartment

Kids Definition

apartment

noun

apart·​ment ə-ˈpärt-mənt 

1

: a room or set of rooms used as a dwelling

2

: apartment building