apartment

American  

[uh-pahrt-muhnt] / əˈpɑrt mənt /

noun

1. a room or a group of related rooms, among similar sets in one building, designed for use as a dwelling.

2. a building containing or made up of such rooms.

3. any separated room or group of rooms in a house or other dwelling.

   We heard cries from an apartment at the back of the house.

4. British. apartments, a set of rooms used as a dwelling by one person or one family.

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apartment British  

/ əˈpɑːtmənt /

noun

1. (often plural) any room in a building, usually one of several forming a suite, esp one that is spacious and well furnished and used as living accommodation, offices, etc

2. 1. another name (esp US and Canadian) for flat 2

   2. ( as modifier )

      apartment building

      apartment house

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Other Word Forms

• apartmental adjective

Etymology

Origin of apartment

1635–45; < French appartement < Italian appartamento, equivalent to apparta ( re ) to separate, divide (verbal derivative of a parte apart, to one side) + -mento -ment

Example Sentences

He’d taken lessons and done his homework — setting up a table in the living room of his New York apartment and playing throughout the pandemic.

From Los Angeles Times

They don’t apply to any single-family homes, or to apartments built after the late 1970s, when an earlier version of rent limits first took effect.

From The Wall Street Journal

Faqir then mostly stayed in his apartment, terrified he would be arrested if he went to work.

From The Wall Street Journal

At the time, some retail executives in China dismissed the warehouse model, figuring it wasn’t suited to Chinese city-dwellers who lived in cramped apartments and got around by bicycle.

From The Wall Street Journal

She and her sister, Marie-Jeanne, grew up in a luxurious apartment in the plushest district of the city.

From BBC

Related Words

• co-op
• condo
• condominium
• cooperative
• flat
• suite