basement

[beys-muhnt]

noun

1. a story of a building, partly or wholly underground.

2. (in classical and Renaissance architecture) the portion of a building beneath the principal story, treated as a single compositional unit.

3. the lowermost portion of a structure.

4. the substructure of a columnar or arched construction.

basement

/ ˈbeɪsmənt /

noun

1. 1. a partly or wholly underground storey of a building, esp the one immediately below the main floor Compare cellar

   2. ( as modifier )

      a basement flat

2. the foundation or substructure of a wall or building

3. geology a part of the earth's crust formed of hard igneous or metamorphic rock that lies beneath the cover of soft sedimentary rock, sediment, and soil

Word History and Origins

Origin of basement¹

First recorded in 1720–30; base ¹ + -ment

Example Sentences

When two grenades slid across the floor of a basement in Kibbutz Alumim, he lunged forward, picked up one and lobbed it to safety.

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The librarian said, “‘There’s these files in the basement of the Central Library’ — the most beautiful building.

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Crew members in cargo pants prepare scenery on stage, the costume department steams dresses and hairstylists comb wigs in a basement room backstage.

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This enabled detectives to uncover a list of people who lived in the basement flat at that time.

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So at 6 a.m. the next morning, Missy and Berard, not quite mother and son, drove off to get the basement dweller’s jaw fixed.

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Related Words

• cellar 
• storage 
• vault