tenant

[ ten-uhnt ]
See synonyms for: tenanttenantedtenantingtenants on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a person or group that rents and occupies land, a house, an office, or the like, from another for a period of time; lessee.

  2. Law. a person who holds or possesses for a time lands, tenements, or personalty of another, usually for rent.

  1. an occupant or inhabitant of any place.

verb (used with object)
  1. to hold or occupy as a tenant; dwell in; inhabit.

verb (used without object)
  1. to dwell or live (usually followed by in).

Origin of tenant

1
1250–1300; Middle English tena(u)nt<Anglo-French; Middle French tenant, noun use of present participle of tenir to hold ≪ Latin tenēre.See -ant

Other words from tenant

  • ten·ant·a·ble, adjective
  • ten·ant·less, adjective
  • ten·ant·like, adjective
  • non·ten·ant, noun
  • non·ten·ant·a·ble, adjective
  • un·ten·ant·a·ble, adjective
  • un·ten·ant·ed, adjective

Words that may be confused with tenant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tenant in a sentence

  • Again I registered, and finding it tenantless, took over again my old room.

  • Xenie looked around her wildly, but the pretty little chamber was silent and tenantless.

    A Dreadful Temptation | Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller
  • "It is roomy enough for a barracks," Murat remarked as he wandered through suite after suite of the great tenantless rooms.

    Romance of Roman Villas | Elizabeth W. (Elizbeth Williams) Champney
  • Then the ghost of that unforgettably strange odor passed away and was lost among the leagues of tenantless forest beyond.

    The Wendigo | Algernon Blackwood
  • Tenements are now tenantless that once were thronged with life.

    Letters from Switzerland | Samuel Irenus Prime

British Dictionary definitions for tenant

tenant

/ (ˈtɛnənt) /


noun
  1. a person who holds, occupies, or possesses land or property by any kind of right or title, esp from a landlord under a lease

  2. a person who has the use of a house, flat, etc, subject to the payment of rent

  1. any holder or occupant

verb
  1. (tr) to hold (land or property) as a tenant

  2. (intr foll by in) rare to dwell

Origin of tenant

1
C14: from Old French, literally: (one who is) holding, from tenir to hold, from Latin tenēre

Derived forms of tenant

  • tenantable, adjective
  • tenantless, adjective
  • tenant-like, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012