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

Thirteen years after the nursing home shut down, a developer is proposing to demolish the vacant building and put up 160 apartments. —Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 18 June 2025

Advertisement During a Hamas missile barrage, an elderly relative of mine would settle for sitting on the steps in the stairwell of his second-floor apartment in Bat Yam, a coastal suburb of Tel Aviv. —Orly Halpern, Time, 18 June 2025

An incentive for builders constructing new energy-efficient homes and apartments would end 12 months after signing. —Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 18 June 2025

Detectives told prosecutors Pigford tried to flee by climbing out of the fire escape of her apartment prior to her arrest. —Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 18 June 2025

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

Rhymes for apartment

• compartment
• departement
• department

Kids Definition

apartment

noun

apart·​ment ə-ˈpärt-mənt 

1

: a room or set of rooms used as a dwelling

2

: apartment building