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Definition of "tenement" []

  • A building for human habitation, especially one that is rented to tenants. (noun)
  • A rundown, low-rental apartment building whose facilities and maintenance barely meet minimum standards. (noun)
  • Chiefly British An apartment or room leased to a tenant. (noun)
  • Law Property, such as land, rents, or franchises, held by one person leasing it from another. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "tenement" in a sentence
  • "God had never been in the tenement -- _God had never been in the tenement_!"
  • ""I went to the tenement every afternoon," she admitted, "to the _tenement_."
  • "The term tenement at that time did not have the negative connotation that it has today."