tenement
noun
ten·e·ment
ˈte-nə-mənt 
1
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
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
Projections of tenements give David Zinn’s fleet scenic design that old-timey Big Apple flavor.
—
Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
In your tenement in Five Points, or pretty much any place in New York in those days, there were no locks on the doors.
—Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, 17 Mar. 2024
Given the cold weather persistently coming through the drafty bay windows of tenement flats in Glasgow, my mother would neatly stack the plates in the groove of the radiator to heat them up and set the table with a bright red tablecloth, the color of luck over the festivities.
—Julie Lin, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Feb. 2024
And in 1973, Paris Review editor George Plimpton bought units at 541 East 72nd Street, a former tenement building poised over FDR Drive, with views of the river, that had just become a co-op.
—Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 6 Feb. 2024
In an age when status symbols in a gritty Brooklyn tenement were telephones, television sets and refrigerators, the Kramdens had none on a bus driver’s $62 a week.
—Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2024
Then the Lower East Side changed, snuffing out the spirit of the gritty tenement.
—Ronda Kaysen, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2024
Between 1863 and 1935, more than 15,000 immigrants from more than 20 countries called the tenement building their home.
—Madeleine Kearns, National Review, 14 Jan. 2024
That name can conjure stereotypes of sprawling tenements, but the Federal Housing Choice Voucher program offers rental assistance that can be used in communities nationwide.
—Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Jan. 2024
Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
In your tenement in Five Points, or pretty much any place in New York in those days, there were no locks on the doors.
—Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, 17 Mar. 2024
Given the cold weather persistently coming through the drafty bay windows of tenement flats in Glasgow, my mother would neatly stack the plates in the groove of the radiator to heat them up and set the table with a bright red tablecloth, the color of luck over the festivities.
—Julie Lin, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Feb. 2024
And in 1973, Paris Review editor George Plimpton bought units at 541 East 72nd Street, a former tenement building poised over FDR Drive, with views of the river, that had just become a co-op.
—Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 6 Feb. 2024
In an age when status symbols in a gritty Brooklyn tenement were telephones, television sets and refrigerators, the Kramdens had none on a bus driver’s $62 a week.
—Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2024
Then the Lower East Side changed, snuffing out the spirit of the gritty tenement.
—Ronda Kaysen, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2024
Between 1863 and 1935, more than 15,000 immigrants from more than 20 countries called the tenement building their home.
—Madeleine Kearns, National Review, 14 Jan. 2024
That name can conjure stereotypes of sprawling tenements, but the Federal Housing Choice Voucher program offers rental assistance that can be used in communities nationwide.
—Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tenement.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near tenement
Cite this Entry
“Tenement.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tenement. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tenement
noun
ten·e·ment
ˈten-ə-mənt
1
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
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share