tenant

American  

[ten-uhnt] / ˈtɛn ənt /

noun

• tenants
  plural

1. 

   a person or group that rents and occupies land, a house, an office, or the like, from another for a period of time; lessee.

2. Law. a person who holds or possesses for a time lands, tenements, or personalty of another, usually for rent.

3. an occupant or inhabitant of any place.

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verb (used with object)

1. to hold or occupy as a tenant; dwell in; inhabit.

verb (used without object)

1. to dwell or live (usually followed byin ).

tenant British  

/ ˈtɛnənt /

noun

1. a person who holds, occupies, or possesses land or property by any kind of right or title, esp from a landlord under a lease

2. a person who has the use of a house, flat, etc, subject to the payment of rent

3. any holder or occupant

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verb

1. (tr) to hold (land or property) as a tenant

2. rare to dwell

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nontenant
  noun
• nontenantable
  adjective
• tenant-like
  adjective
• tenantable
  adjective
• tenantless
  adjective
• tenantlike
  adjective
• untenantable
  adjective
• untenanted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tenants
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tenant

1250–1300; Middle English tena ( u ) nt < Anglo-French; Middle French tenant, noun use of present participle of tenir to hold ≪ Latin tenēre. See -ant

Explanation

A tenant is someone who lives in a place owned by someone else, usually paying rent. If you blast your music and let the cat pee in the corner, your landlord will not think that you're a very good tenant. Tenant is often used to mean "renter," but it can mean anyone who has the right to live in a particular place, either because he signed a lease, which is a rental agreement, because he owns the land, or because government gave him a title to it. If you live in a big apartment building, you should be aware of your rights as a tenant, which usually include things like having heat in the winter and proper fire escapes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tenant tenants

As a longtime renter herself, Raj has experience with being a neglected tenant.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

But now, candidates across the country, like Lawrence, are trumpeting their experiences as renters and tenant organizers, fueling an emerging political movement focused on making renting more sustainable.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

Abascal's father first rented the property in 1956 and she continued as the tenant after her parents died, during which time there was a cap on the rent.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

The Tenant Union Federation, a national tenant group, has organized several rent strikes in financially distressed buildings where landlords had deferred maintenance or raised rents to pay their mortgage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

To find out more about the situation, we talked to Helen Finner, who’s been president of the Ida B. Wells tenant organization for twenty-three years and has lived in The Wells since 1968.

From "Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago" by LeAlan Jones

The government presented new emergency housing measures on Tuesday, including tax breaks for tenants and an extension of an eviction ban.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Tock, an audio engineer and teacher, has distributed flyers and talked to tenants about organizing.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

The Act also means tenancies are rolling rather than fixed term, and makes it harder for landlords to evict tenants.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

Raman has talked up her work enacting new renter protections, narrowing the ability of landlords to evict tenants and winning approval of a 4% cap on annual rent increases in rent-stabilized buildings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Melanie always looked forward to meeting new tenants, and today was going to be especially interesting.

From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Related Words

• dweller
• holder
• inhabitant
• occupant
• renter
• resident