basement

noun base·ment \ ˈbās-mənt \

|Updated on: 12 Aug 2018

Examples: basement in a Sentence

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

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 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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basementless

play \-ləs\ adjective

See basement defined for English-language learners

See basement defined for kids

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 of basement from the Web

The fictional building’s basement walls — pocked with bullet holes and smeared with blood — bore witness to their demise.

— lorraine ali, latimes.com, "'The Handmaid's Tale': A deeper look at the chillingly prescient second season," 9 July 2018
Rebecca Bell, who lives next door to the home where the suspect hid, said U.S. Marshals warned her and her children to get into their basement.

— tony rizzo, joe robertson, robert a. cronkleton and max londberg, kansascity, "Victim of Overland Park shooting at school has died; suspect tried to escape custody," 3 July 2018
In those days, Brennan would wake just after 4 in the morning and work in his basement West Wing office until 9 or 10 each night.

— mattathias schwartz, New York Times, "A Spymaster Steps Out of the Shadows," 27 June 2018
The arrangement understandably makes commentators squirm: a white taskmistress keeping a black ward in her basement to turn out paintings on command.

— stephen metcalf, The Atlantic, "Jean-Michel Basquiat Is Still an Enigma," 24 June 2018
Production was limited to five-gallon batches Schavey made in his basement, but that didn't stop him from getting as much mead as possible out into the world.

— julia thiel, Chicago Reader, "Booze / Food & Drink How a mead that hasn’t yet hit the market exploded in popularity," 12 June 2018
According to the complaint, prior to DeBrodie’s death, Paulo allegedly took DeBrodie to her home in Fulton and forced him to do manual labor, making DeBrodie and another Second Chance resident sleep in her basement with no bed or mattress.

— PEOPLE.com, "Developmentally Disabled Man Allegedly Did Labor for Caretaker Before Body Was Found Encased in Concrete," 8 June 2018
The affidavit says investigators believe Oswald came home Nov. 9, 2017, to find Pitts and two others in her basement.

— crimesider staff, CBS News, "Man charged with killing woman whose body was found in her submerged SUV," 31 May 2018
But once in his basement, Greitens taped her hands to pull-up rings, blindfolded her, and started kissing and disrobing her without her consent, according to her testimony.

— the washington post, OregonLive.com, "America has a massive truck driver shortage. Here's why few want an $80,000 job.," 29 May 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.