Meaning of TENEMENT
| Pronunciation: | | 'tenumunt
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 WordNet Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | [n] a rundown apartment house barely meeting minimal standards |
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| | Synonyms: | | tenement house |
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| | See Also: | | apartment building, apartment house | |
| Products Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | |  Tenement
Life on the Lower East Side was bustling. Immigrants from many European countries had come to make a better life for themselves and their families in the United States. But the wages they earned were so low that they could afford only the most basic accomodations--tenements. Unfortunately, there were few laws protecting the residents of tenements, and landlords took advantage of this by allowing the buildings to become cramped and squalid. There was little the tenants could do; their only other choice was the street. Though most immigrants struggled in these buildings, many overcame a difficult start and saw generations after them move on to better apartments, homes, and lives. Raymond Bial reveals the first, challenging steps in this process as he leads us on a tour of the sights and sounds of the Lower East Side, guiding us through the dark hallways, staircases, and rooms of the tenements. more details ... |
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| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | \Ten"e*ment\, n. [OF. tenement a holding, a fief, F.
t[`e]nement, LL. tenementum, fr. L. tenere to hold. See
{Tenant}.]
1. (Feud. Law) That which is held of another by service;
property which one holds of a lord or proprietor in
consideration of some military or pecuniary service; fief;
fee.
2. (Common Law) Any species of permanent property that may be
held, so as to create a tenancy, as lands, houses, rents,
commons, an office, an advowson, a franchise, a right of
common, a peerage, and the like; -- called also {free or
frank tenements}.
The thing held is a tenement, the possessor of it a
``tenant,'' and the manner of possession is called
``tenure.'' --Blackstone.
3. A dwelling house; a building for a habitation; also, an
apartment, or suite of rooms, in a building, used by one
family; often, a house erected to be rented.
4. Fig.: Dwelling; abode; habitation.
Who has informed us that a rational soul can inhabit
no tenement, unless it has just such a sort of
frontispiece? --Locke.
{Tenement house}, commonly, a dwelling house erected for the
purpose of being rented, and divided into separate
apartments or tenements for families. The term is often
applied to apartment houses occupied by poor families.
Syn: House; dwelling; habitation.
Usage: {Tenement}, {House}. There may be many houses under
one roof, but they are completely separated from each
other by party walls. A tenement may be detached by
itself, or it may be part of a house divided off for
the use of a family.
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