apartment

[uh-pahrt-muh nt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR apartment ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

a building containing or made up of such rooms.

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.

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

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

Related formsa·part·men·tal

[uh-pahrt-men-tl] /ə pɑrtˈmɛn tl/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for apartment

flat, residence, cave, suite, accommodation, penthouse, condo, coop, cooperative, dump, pad, den, lodging, rental, walk-up, digs, cold-water

Examples from the Web for apartment

Contemporary Examples of apartment

He was born in an apartment above the grocery store owned by his immigrant parents in South Jamaica, Queens.
Mario Cuomo, a Frustrating Hero to Democrats, Is Dead at 82
Eleanor Clift
January 2, 2015
“Bodegas, private residences, apartment buildings, you name it,” the investigator says.
Exclusive: Inside a Cop-Killer’s Final Hours
Michael Daly
December 31, 2014
At 24, I slipped on the ice outside of my Michigan apartment.
You’re Never ‘Cured’ of an Eating Disorder
Carrie Arnold
December 20, 2014
Magazines are the only thing in my apartment that qualify as clutter.
I’m a Digital Hoarder
Lizzie Crocker
December 17, 2014
And there are a few nice things buried beneath the rubble that I could use in my apartment.
I’m a Digital Hoarder
Lizzie Crocker
December 17, 2014

Historical Examples of apartment

As I approached her apartment, the voice of Alcibiades met my ear.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
Philothea has glided from the apartment, as if afraid to remain in my presence.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
What is the use of a beautiful face, if one must be shut up in her own apartment for ever?
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
At parting, she urged Eudora to share her apartment for the night.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
How restful this quiet and reserve after the colour and line tumult of the Higbee apartment.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for apartment

apartment

noun

(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

another name (esp US and Canadian) for flat 2 (def. 1)
(as modifier)apartment building; apartment house

Word Origin for apartment

C17: from French appartement, from Italian appartamento, from appartare to set on one side, separate

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

Word Origin and History for apartment

1640s, "private rooms for the use of one person within a house," from French appartement (16c.), from Italian appartimento, literally "a separated place," from appartere "to separate," from a "to" (see ad-) + parte "side, place," from Latin partem (see part (n.)). Sense of "set of private rooms in a building entirely of these" (the U.S. equivalent of British flat) is first attested 1874.