Tenement Meaning
/ˈtɛnɪmənt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one.
nounAny form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned.
Sentence Examples
They live in a rundown tenement on 5th St.
Tom grew up in a tenement.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old ____ building had broken windows and no heat.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In the past, many families lived in crowded ____ buildings in the busy industrial areas of the growing cities today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English tenement, from Anglo-Norman tenement (“holding”), from Old French tenement, from Medieval Latin tenimentum, from Latin teneō (“hold”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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, James Joyce, “[Episode 5]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
"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:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old ____ building had broken windows and no heat.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In the past, many families lived in crowded ____ buildings in the busy industrial areas of the growing cities today.