Tenement
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 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."
- 2 a run-down apartment house barely meeting minimal standards wordnet
- 3 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."
- 4 A dwelling; abode; habitation. figuratively
"Who has informed us that a rational soul can inhabit no tenement, unless it has just such a sort of frontispiece?"
Example
More examples"The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail — its roof may shake — the wind may blow through it — the storm may enter — the rain may enter — but the King of England cannot enter — all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!"
Etymology
From Middle English tenement, from Anglo-Norman tenement (“holding”), from Old French tenement, from Medieval Latin tenimentum, from Latin teneō (“hold”).