tenement

noun

ten·​e·​ment ˈte-nə-mənt 

1

a

: tenement house

b

: apartment, flat

c

: a house used as a dwelling : residence

2

: any of various forms of corporeal property (such as land) or incorporeal property that is held by one person from another

3

: dwelling

Synonyms

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

Examples of tenement in a Sentence

an exhibit of pictures showing the tenements of the New York City neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen during the 1920s

Recent Examples on the Web

At the same time, the Lower East Side increasingly hosts a population of pricey restaurants, little boutiques, and buyers and renters younger than 40 whose great-grandparents might have lived in tenements on those same blocks. —Frederick Peters, Forbes.com, 2 Apr. 2025

The courtyard was essential, a way for mostly Jewish immigrants to replace the tenement’s narrow, stinking air shaft with a form of genuinely gracious living. —Justin Davidson, Curbed, 23 Jan. 2025

In the 19th century, greedy landlords in New York could rent tenements with poor lighting, inadequate ventilation and no indoor bathrooms. —Christopher Elliott, USA TODAY, 3 Jan. 2025

The latest is Bunny, a freewheeling ensemble comedy set in an East Village tenement inhabited by hustlers, stoners, party girls, landlords, Wall Street bros and not one but two dead bodies. —Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "the holding of property, the property so held, building, dwelling," borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin tenementum, tenimentum, teneamentum, from Latin tenēre "to hold, occupy, possess" + -mentum -ment — more at tenant entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing tenement

• tenement house

Rhymes for tenement

• presentiment

Kids Definition

tenement

noun

ten·​e·​ment ˈten-ə-mənt 

1

a

: a house used as a dwelling

b

: apartment sense 1, flat

c

: tenement house

2

: dwelling

Legal Definition

tenement

noun

ten·​e·​ment ˈte-nə-mənt 

1

a

: any of various forms of property (as land) that is held by one person from another

b

: an estate in property

2

: dwelling

Etymology

Anglo-French, from Old French, from Medieval Latin tenementum, from Latin tenēre to hold