tenant

1 of 2

noun

ten·​ant ˈte-nənt 

1

a

: one who has the occupation or temporary possession of lands or tenements of another

specifically : one who rents or leases a dwelling (such as a house) from a landlord

b

: one who holds or possesses real estate or sometimes personal property (such as a security) by any kind of right

2

: occupant, dweller

tenantless

ˈte-nənt-ləs 

adjective

tenant

2 of 2

verb

tenanted; tenanting; tenants

transitive verb

: to hold or occupy as or as if as a tenant : inhabit

tenantable

ˈte-nən-tə-bəl 

adjective

Did you know?

Tenets vs. Tenants

Thanks to its confusingly similar pronunciation, tenant (“occupant, land-holder”) is sometimes erroneously used in place of tenet (“principle, doctrine”). Consider this example:

One of the ancient tenants of the Buddist [sic] belief is, “He who sits still, wins” –Police, January/February 1968

You will probably never make the opposite mistake (that is, substitute tenet for tenant), but if you think you might, remember that tenant and occupant both end in -ant.

Synonyms

Noun

• boarder
• lessee
• lodger
• renter
• roomer

Examples of tenant in a Sentence

Noun

A tenant is now leasing the apartment.

the laundry in the basement is for tenants only

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Under California law, landlords cannot withhold a deposit to clean an apartment left in the same condition as when a tenant moved in, or to pay for fixing ordinary wear and tear. —Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2024

Every building’s solution set is unique and must be customized to its own needs and tenant priorities. —Billal Hammoud, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024

Instead, as the Brotherhood Building has fallen into receivership, some are concerned that the tenants have been mistreated. —Bill Lukitsch, Kansas City Star, 26 Mar. 2024

Here, the city has negotiated seven months of free rent and a large tenant improvement allowance, with up to $1.7 million in move-in costs covered by the landlord. —Jennifer Van Grove, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2024

The city is currently receiving only around $341,000 in annual rent from the remaining tenants. —Joe Rubin, Sacramento Bee, 25 Mar. 2024

Ultimately, the goal is to enable tenants to completely support themselves, and stay off the streets. —Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 21 Mar. 2024

On the south half of the ground floor is up to 19,000 square feet of space for a retail or office tenant. —The Enquirer, 18 Mar. 2024

Over the years, the co-op has hosted a fair share of A-listers and celeb tenants. —Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 18 Mar. 2024

Verb

Her office plans to track case outcomes, if landlords have certificates of compliance, total eviction filings over time, landlord and tenant legal representation and demographic information. —Nushrat Rahman, Detroit Free Press, 8 Feb. 2023

Shamus Roller, executive director of the National Housing Law Project, said the announcement gave an important nod to tenant rights at such a high government level. —Rachel Siegel, Washington Post, 25 Jan. 2023

The problem is that the board’s increases, whether minimal or substantial, aren’t pegged to tenant incomes in any way. —Curbed, 23 June 2022

Still, landlords are including concessions to get deals, offering abatements and tenant improvement allowances. —Natalie Wong, Bloomberg.com, 30 Mar. 2022

With that deadline fast approaching and politicians so far unresponsive to tenant advocates’ calls for another extension, renters and small landlords report widespread confusion and fear about falling through the cracks. —Lauren Hepler, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 Mar. 2022

Should cities such as San Francisco give legal recognition to tenant unions? —Will Parker, WSJ, 22 Jan. 2022

By 2020, similar units at the complex rented for approximately $1,200 per month, according to leases and tenant payment records reviewed by The Post. —Washington Post, 2 Jan. 2022

Those left out Sylvia Kuster and her husband Skip currently lease most of their nearly 400-acre property to tenant farmers. —cincinnati.com, 16 Sep. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English tenaunt, tenant, borrowed from Anglo-French, "holder (of land under various circumstances)," noun derivative from present participle of tenir "to hold, have possession of," going back (with conjugation change) to Latin tenēre "to hold, occupy, possess," probably derivative, with the stative suffix *-h₁i̯é- (with zero-grade ablaut) of the Indo-European verbal base *ten- "stretch, extend," whence, from a present-tense derivative *tn̥-neu̯/nu-, Sanskrit tanóti "(it) extends, spreads, endures," Greek tánytai "(s/he) stretches, extends, bends (a bow)," Welsh tannu, tanu "to spread, extend"; from a causative derivative *ton-éi̯e-, Sanskrit -tānayati "(it) extends," Germanic *þanjan- "to stretch" (whence Old English þennan "to stretch," Old Saxon thennian, Old High German dennen, Old Norse þenja, Gothic ufþanjan "to overextend"); from a present-tense derivative *ten-i̯e-, Greek teínein "to stretch, extend, spread, aim at," with verbal adjective tatós, action noun tásis, both from zero-grade *tn̥-t-

Note: This explanation of Latin tenēre is conventional, though the shift of sense (from "stretch, extend" to "extend the arm" to "grasp, hold"?) is not paralleled in other languages. Latin has no outcome of the Indo-European verb-stem formatives based on *ten- attested in other families (shown in the etymology above), having replaced *ten- in transitive/telic functions with the base *tend- (see tender entry 3). Derivatives with the stative suffix *-h₁i̯é- regularly take zero-grade ablaut, which may be reflected in tenēre, though it could equally reflect full-grade *ten-. It is claimed that Umbrian tenitu (3rd singular imperative), apparently a counterpart within Italic to Latin tenēre, must reflect *ten- (apparently on the assumption that zero grade would result in *tan-; see Michiel de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Leiden, 2008).

Verb

derivative of tenant entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Verb

1634, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing tenant

• tenant farmer
• se tenant
• co-tenant
• sitting tenant

Kids Definition

tenant

1 of 2 noun

ten·​ant ˈten-ənt 

1

: one who occupies property of another especially for rent

2

: occupant

tenant

2 of 2 verb

: to hold or occupy as a tenant : inhabit

Legal Definition

tenant

noun

ten·​ant ˈte-nənt 

: one who holds or possesses property by any kind of right : one who holds a tenancy in property

specifically : one who possesses property in exchange for payment of rent see also lessee compare tenancy

Etymology

Noun

Anglo-French, from Old French, from present participle of tenir to hold, from Latin tenēre