as in apartment
a room or set of rooms in a private house or a block used as a separate dwelling place
an exhibit of pictures showing the tenements of the New York City neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen during the 1920s
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Recent Examples of tenement
Fisk explains that set designers built a modular system of tenement fronts that covered the ground-level building fronts.
—
Pat Saperstein, Variety, 27 Dec. 2025
The streets, tenements, fire-escapes, the elders, and the urgent concerns of childhood—or, rather, the helpless intensity of anguish with which one watches one’s childhood disappear—are rendered very vividly indeed by Louise Meriwether, in her first novel, Daddy Was a Number Runner.
—Literary Hub, 22 Dec. 2025
In 1962, a blaze tore through a tenement building, leaving 44 dead.
—Shawna Kwan, Fortune, 28 Nov. 2025
Also, bamboo scaffolding is ubiquitous in the city, used not only in the construction of new buildings, but also in the renovation of thousands of historic tenements every year.
—Catherine Nicholls, CNN Money, 26 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tenement
Pat Saperstein, Variety, 27 Dec. 2025
The streets, tenements, fire-escapes, the elders, and the urgent concerns of childhood—or, rather, the helpless intensity of anguish with which one watches one’s childhood disappear—are rendered very vividly indeed by Louise Meriwether, in her first novel, Daddy Was a Number Runner.
—Literary Hub, 22 Dec. 2025
In 1962, a blaze tore through a tenement building, leaving 44 dead.
—Shawna Kwan, Fortune, 28 Nov. 2025
Also, bamboo scaffolding is ubiquitous in the city, used not only in the construction of new buildings, but also in the renovation of thousands of historic tenements every year.
—Catherine Nicholls, CNN Money, 26 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tenement
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tenement
Noun
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After The Odd Couple — also created by Garry Marshall — ended its run in 1975, the apartment set from that series was modified to become Laverne and Shirley’s Milwaukee residence.—
Marc Berman,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
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The Hope Way project plans for 240 affordable apartment units on 11 acres of vacant land along Penryn Road.—
Ashley Sharp,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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According to the lawsuit, the condo association told Verizon in August that the weight of its antennas had damaged exterior masonry walls on a rooftop penthouse.—
David Hudnall,
Kansas City Star,
6 Jan. 2026
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The hotel now has new club-level accommodations and a sprawling two-bedroom penthouse Residence Suite, as well as the largest spa in the city.—
AFAR Media,
AFAR Media,
30 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tenement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tenement. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.
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