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:
Actress Julianne Moore recently opened the doors of her gorgeous West Village duplex penthouse for an apartment tour with Architectural Digest.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
While this particular penthouse has its own dedicated parking spot, the building also offers valet parking.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
A property developer has been fined £1m after a window fell from a luxury riverside penthouse in south London and killed a coach driver.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
A private equity firm resides on the fifth floor; an A.I. firm takes up the penthouse property on eight.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
“It’s brilliant, Uncle Heath. I mean, who wouldn’t want to live in a river-view tower? I know I’m looking forward to my free penthouse apartment. Care for a mint?”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
In 2014, she snapped up two penthouses in the chic Tribeca neighborhood for about $20 million and combined them into a nine-bedroom, nine-bath abode with beamed ceilings, a curved staircase, and enormous windows.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 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
“So you have venture investors talking about AI and then $50 million penthouses all in the same episode. We’ll see if people like it. I don’t know.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
Beneath the Shakespearean insults and the Upper East Side penthouses, there was something empty at the heart of “Succession.”
From New York Times ● May 28, 2023
Here, the rocks rose again in wild shapes, forming natural caverns and penthouses.
From Basil by Wilkie Collins
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