Basement

//ˈbeɪsmənt// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A floor of a building below ground level.

    "Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear."

  2. 2
    the lowermost portion of a structure partly or wholly below ground level; often used for storage wordnet
  3. 3
    A floor of a building below ground level.; Ellipsis of semi-basement, a floor mostly below grade abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
  4. 4
    the ground floor facade or interior in Renaissance architecture wordnet
  5. 5
    A mass of igneous or metamorphic rock forming the foundation over which a platform of sedimentary rocks is laid.
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  1. 6
    Last place in a sports conference's standings. informal

Synonyms

All synonyms
cellararchivesarmoryarsenalatticbackhouse

Example

More examples

"The burglar locked the couple in the basement."

Etymology

From base + -ment.

Related phrases

English basementMichigan basementbargain basementbargain-basementbasement apartmentbasement battlerbasement dwellerbasement membranebasement-dwellerbasement-dwellingiceberg basementsemi-basement

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.