basement

noun

base·ment | \ ˈbās-mənt

Definition of basement

1 : the part of a building that is wholly or partly below ground level

2 : the ground floor facade or interior in Renaissance architecture

3 : the lowest or fundamental part of something specifically : the rocks underlying stratified rocks

4 chiefly New England : a toilet or washroom especially in a school

5a : a low state, rank, or condition With their stock in the basement and red ink all over their balance sheet, many struggling [companies] are finding that fund-raising has become an exceedingly difficult proposition.— Brad Stone

b : the lowest place in the standings : cellar sense 2 Last year, the Phillies finished in the basement of the NL East with 68 wins, tied with the Cubs for the fewest wins in the league. — Boston Herald

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Examples of basement in a Sentence

we store our bicycles in the basement during the winter the basement of the outdoor fountain needs a lot of restoration work

Recent Examples on the Web

In the basement is the speed shop for even quicker buying, stuffed with product proven through sales data as favorites of New York dwelling men and women. — Steff Yotka, Vogue, "Two Very Big Reasons You Should Do Your Holiday Shopping in Midtown Manhattan," 20 Nov. 2018 Black mold in the basement seems to emanate from a room—not in the blueprints—behind a red door that nobody can open, not even by force. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Haunting of Hill House," 22 Oct. 2018 Most tanks throughout the building were fairly small, but a generator on the fifth floor was connected to a large tank in the basement via a pressurized line. — Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, "Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report - The World Trade Center," 10 Sep. 2018 In a garage, basement, car, dishwasher or plastic garbage bag, outdoors, or on the porch. — Audrey Bruno, SELF, "All the Different Ways to Thaw Chicken Breasts, Ranked," 5 Jan. 2019 Betty rips the page out of the file and runs for the basement, searching for the door Veronica and Toni used to break Cheryl out of SOQM and finds that it’s been walled off with bricks. — Jessica Macleish, Teen Vogue, ""Riverdale" Recap Season 3 Episode 7: Why Has No One Noticed Betty Is Missing?," 6 Dec. 2018 The Speed When my only source of Wi-Fi is my traditional Verizon Fios router in the basement, conditions on the top floor are basically unlivable: dropped connections, fuzzy Netflix and a tenth of my paid-for internet bandwidth. — Joanna Stern, WSJ, "Kill Your Wi-Fi Dead Zones! The Best Mesh Systems for Your Home," 5 Dec. 2018 Down in the basement, Stephanie told her kids, Dominic, then 8, and Reese, then 5, to lie down, then quickly wrapped them in a blanket and covered their heads with her torso. — Shelley Levitt, Woman's Day, "These 4 Inspirational Women Went to Great Lengths for Their Kids," 4 Dec. 2018 Here are five things to know about the NFC West’s basement-dwellers. — Mike Vorel, The Seattle Times, "Five things to know about the Seahawks’ next opponent: The Arizona Cardinals," 24 Sep. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'basement.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.