Dictionary

tenement en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈtɛnɪmənt/

Etymology

From Middle English tenement, from Anglo-Norman tenement (“holding”), from Old French tenement, from Medieval Latin tenimentum, from Latin teneō (“hold”).

Meanings

1. A building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one.
   • He turned into Cumberland street and, going on some paces, halted in the lee of the station wall. No-one. Meade’s timberyard. Piled balks. Ruins and tenements. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 5]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:
2. Any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned.
   • The island of Brecqhou is a tenement of Sark.
3. (figuratively) A dwelling; abode; habitation.
   • Who has informed us that a rational soul can inhabit no tenement, unless it has just such a sort of frontispiece? 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
   • Where she came from no man could tell. There were some said she was no woman, but a ghost haunting some mortal tenement. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

Forms

Deriveds

tenementary · tenemental · servient tenement · tenemented · tenementlike · tenementer

Relateds

rooming house

Synonyms

apartment building (building) · tenement house (building)

Translations (36)

la insula (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · nl verpachting (any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned) · es conventillo (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · grc συνοικία (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · de Mietskaserne (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · nl huurkazerne (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · fi vuokratalo (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · hu bérlet (any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned) · pl czynszówka (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · es bloque de viviendas (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · ga tionontán (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · de Wohnungsblock (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · hu bérház (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · fi vuokra-asunto (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · es casa de vecindad (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · it casamento (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · pl kamienica czynszowa (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · pt cortiço (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · it case popolari (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · da lejebolig (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · nl flatgebouw (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · hu bérlemény (any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned) · ga tionóntán (any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned) · es vecindad (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · hu bérlakás (any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned) · ru арендованное иму́щество (any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned) · it casermone (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · de Mietshaus (any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned) · es inquilinato (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · da lejekaserne (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · de Wohnblock (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · pl parcela dzierżawna (any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned) · fr logement (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · it condominio (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · fr appartement (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one) · es solar (a building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one)