apartment

[uh-pahrt-muhnt]

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.

apartment

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• apartmental adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of apartment¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of apartment¹

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

Example Sentences

But her next steps were clear as ever — instead of settling into a new apartment, she took on a nomadic lifestyle, with making new music as her only goal.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

When I stepped into the delivery suite to give birth again, the room was as familiar as my own apartment.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

That meant Anthony was going to have to take out student loans and pay for his own apartment in Tucson.

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Now you want to buy them each an apartment, and finally you may end up paying their mortgages, if they don’t have the money to do so themselves.

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Professionals don’t bring squadrons to chase after tamale ladies or day laborers, or stage flashy raids of apartments and parks that accomplish little else than footage for propaganda videos.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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