basement

noun

base·​ment ˈbās-mənt 

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

5

a

: 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

basementless

ˈbās-mənt-ləs 

adjective

Synonyms

• cellar

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

Chained in a finished basement, Alan spends his days thinking of his family, hallucinating his own therapy sessions with former mentor Charlie (David Alan Grier), and trying to get Sam to curb his deadly instincts. —Tanya Melendez, EW.com, 13 Apr. 2024

A couple of hours later, around midnight, Ohtani finally had the chance to pull Mizuhara into a conference room in the basement of the Fairmont Ambassador Hotel in Seoul. —Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2024

These five Wolverines are charged with keeping a woman chained to a pole in a basement for a month before killing her. —Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024

Violet and her grandmother were in the basement of the New Hampshire home when the tree fell, Giso told WFXT. —Abigail Adams, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024

Don’t go into a basement, or any room, if water covers the electrical outlets or if cords are submerged. —Star-Telegram Bot, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 Apr. 2024

The dream of accurate speech-to-text—long held not just in my parents’ basement but by people all over the world—is coming together. —Caroline Mimbs Nyce, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2024

This tornado belied the old warning that basements are the safest place in a home when a tornado strikes. —Jerome Hansen, Jack Schermerhorn, Ralph Nelson and Ken McCormick, Detroit Free Press, 6 Apr. 2024

The four-story building was set up to hold 300 diners, with an additional 200 in the basement club. —Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 5 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

base entry 1 or base entry 2 + -ment, probably after Italian basamento

First Known Use

1730, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing basement

• bargain basement
• basement membrane
• finished basement/attic
• sub-basement

Kids Definition

basement

noun

base·​ment ˈbās-mənt 

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