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 of tenement

• apartment
• penthouse

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

Rehabilitating a century-old tenement can cost twice that, leaving owners little incentive to do anything but lock the door. —Sydney Lake, Fortune, 5 Nov. 2025

Fernando Santangelo is the only person who could have come across a derelict railroad apartment on the fourth floor of a tenement in the West Village and thought, Eureka! —Wendy Goodman, Curbed, 1 Nov. 2025

What follows is one wild, sweltering summer day and night in their East Village tenement, as the two scheme with a crew of eccentric neighbors to cover up a dead body. —Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 23 Oct. 2025

The second story follows the journey of Tateh (Brandon Uranowitz), the Latvian immigrant and his Little Girl (Tabitha Lawing), from New York’s tenements to factory exploitation in a mill town to his re-invention as a populist filmmaker in a nascent industry. —Frank Rizzo, Variety, 17 Oct. 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