basement

American  

[beys-muhnt] / ˈbeɪs mənt /

noun

basements plural

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.

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basement British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• basements
  plural

Etymology

Origin of basement

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

Explanation

A basement is a room that's below ground level, underneath the first floor. You might have a laundry room with a washer and dryer in your basement. Some basements are partially under the level of the street, while others are completely below ground. Many, though not all, houses and larger buildings have basements. Some basements are "finished," with carpeting and solid ceilings and walls, but more often they're very basic rooms used for storage. The word dates from 1730, most likely from the Italian basamento, "column base."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

basement basements

“I don’t know. I’ve been in my basement studio all day, so I don’t … I think it’s nice.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

Gil was on duty in the basement of the Sol Marino Garden Residences in Catia La Mar, on the Venezuelan coast, when at 6:04 p.m. on that Wednesday, the earth shook and swallowed him.

From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026

One rescue worker told me that his team came on about 20 safe-deposit boxes in the basement of a collapsed building last week.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

Written by founding member Jerry Dammers, "it was recorded on eight-track in a tiny little basement in Royal Leamington Spa," Panter recalled.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

Seidel’s newest tunnel started in the basement of a café in West Berlin and led to the cellar of an apartment house in the East.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

The metro is too far from her home and there are no decent shelters or basements nearby.

From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026

In an old building, there is a good chance that infrasound is present, particularly in basements where aging pipes and ventilation systems produce low-frequency vibrations.

From Science Daily ● May 3, 2026

With first-time buyers as their intended customers, the company’s innovations included lowering prices by building homes on slabs, instead of digging costly basements.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026

We visited a few of them, hidden away in basements of wrecked buildings or nondescript village houses.

From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026

While students and teachers hoped their desks and basements would stand up to the power of a nuclear blast, the country’s leaders also prepared for a possible attack—in high style.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Related Words

• cellar
• storage
• vault