sublet
Americanverb (used with object)
-
sublets,
present (3rd person singular)
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sublet,
past participle, past
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subletting
present participle
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to sublease.
-
to let under a subcontract.
to sublet work.
noun
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sublets
plural
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a sublease.
-
a property obtained by subleasing, as an apartment.
verb
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to grant a sublease of (property)
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to let out (work, etc) under a subcontract
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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subletsimple
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subletssimple
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have subletperfect
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has subletperfect
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am sublettingprogressive
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are sublettingprogressive
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is sublettingprogressive
-
have been sublettingperfect progressive
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has been sublettingperfect progressive
Past
-
subletsimple
-
had subletperfect
-
was sublettingprogressive
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were sublettingprogressive
-
had been sublettingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sublet
Explanation
When you rent an apartment by taking over another person's lease, instead of renting directly from a landlord, you sublet. You can also say the person sublets the apartment to you. As a noun, sublet refers both to the lease agreement and to the property itself: "I'm living in a tiny sublet right next to the train tracks." The formal, legal word for this is sublease, but it's more common for renters to use the informal sublet instead. Being able to sublet to another person makes it possible for a renter to leave an apartment without breaking their lease.
Vocabulary lists containing sublet
Little Fires Everywhere
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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:
Mastrangelo ultimately found a sublet: She will be spending $2,520 for a bedroom and private bath in a woman’s house in the tony neighborhood of Russian Hill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Northern California, where she grew up, offers less hectic living, with family nearby and a proper house rather than an illegal basement sublet.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026
The BBC contacted the businessman who rented the property, who says he had sublet it to a builder.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
On the one hand, you did promise working internet when you agreed to sublet to them.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 11, 2025
Her mother must have understood, for they didn’t sublet again.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
Listings Projects, a classified newsletter featuring sublets in New York City, Los Angeles and others creative hubs , is one of the systems that seems poised to grow.
From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2023
She was inspired by Sam Farrazaino who established Equinox Studios, converting a 30,000-square-foot former factory to sublets for working artisans in Seattle’s Georgetown in 2006.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2022
“This guy doesn’t look like he has $15. Look at him! Millions of dollars? He looks like he sublets from Oscar the Grouch.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 9, 2022
Positive absorption indicates that more space was leased than was newly built or put on the market through sublets.
From Reuters ● Aug. 1, 2022
So he lets to a gentleman who sublets the flats, you see?
From A Bed of Roses by Walter Lionel George
Nicholas Razo, Santa Fe Springs’ assistant city manager, told The Times that the city had raised concerns with the league about subletting and took action after learning the practice was continuing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Nicholas Razo, assistant city manager, said in a phone interview that the city had previously raised concerns with the league about subletting and took action after learning the practice was continuing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
I’m subletting my apartment in Boulder, Colo., for one year while I’m living in San Diego.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 11, 2025
More than a third of the money clawed back related to fraudulent activity during the Covid-19 pandemic, with other cash being recouped from unlawful council tax claims and illegal subletting of social housing.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2025
He was living in Hyde Park, subletting an apartment from a friend.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
