penthouse
Americannoun
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penthouses
plural
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an apartment or dwelling on the roof of a building, usually set back from the outer walls.
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any specially designed apartment on an upper floor, especially the top floor, of a building.
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a structure on a roof for housing elevator machinery, a water tank, etc.
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Also called pentice, pent. a shed with a sloping roof, or a sloping roof, projecting from a wall or the side of a building, as to shelter a door.
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any rooflike shelter or overhanging part.
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Court Tennis. a corridor having a slanted roof and projecting from three walls of the court.
noun
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a flat or maisonette built onto the top floor or roof of a block of flats
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a construction on the roof of a building, esp one used to house machinery
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a shed built against a building, esp one that has a sloping roof
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real tennis the roofed corridor that runs along three sides of the court
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of penthouse
First recorded in 1520–30; alteration (by folk etymology) of Middle English pentis, from Old French apentiz, equivalent to apent, past participle of apendre “to hang against” + -iz ( French -is ), from unattested Vulgar Latin -ātīcium, noun use of neuter of unattested -ātīcius, equivalent to Latin -āt(us) past participle suffix + -īcius adjective suffix; see appendant, -ate 1
Explanation
A penthouse is fancy apartment on the very highest floor of a tall building. The penthouse can be a status symbol. Just ask the characters from The Jeffersons — they moved on up to a “deluxe apartment in the sky.” While you can use the word penthouse for any top floor apartment, it usually implies something luxurious. A penthouse is often the fanciest and most expensive apartment in the building. Sometimes a penthouse even has its own private elevator. The first penthouses appeared in the 1920s, some taking up entire top floors, though the word has been in use much longer. Originally, it meant "simple structure," from the Old French apentis, "attached building."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Musician and actor Steven Van Zandt is ready to part with his Greenwich Village penthouse, hiking the price up to a cool $18,995,000 after initially listing it for $15 million in June of this year.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
It enabled him to purchase the Old Vicarage at Grantchester near Cambridge, formerly the home of war poet, Rupert Brooke, as well as a penthouse in London.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
While the penthouse was a perfect location for Gorman in the later years of his legendary career, he’s ready for a new chapter.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Corrections & Amplifications Thierry Henry’s Soho penthouse has rooftop views of the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
The wind made an effort, but failed, and a batlike shadow sank toward the roof garden of the penthouse opposite.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
It now offers 53 loft-style homes and eight penthouses.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026
The most expensive penthouses in the Bugatti Residences By Binghatti building will include large, private lifts for the owner's cars, so they can park them inside their apartments.
From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2026
In 32 pages of PowerPoint slides, replete with images of coastal high-rises alongside charts and cost tables, the plan outlines steps to take Gaza residents from tents to penthouses and from poverty to prosperity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
Attas has seen it all, from opulent penthouses to homes she describes in her new memoir, “Pets and the City,” as “so squalid I feared for my life just breathing in the air.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2024
Formerly some of the inhabitants of Orton had what were called penthouses in front of their dwellings.
From Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland by Daniel Scott
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