tenant
- a person or group that rents and occupies land, a house, an office, or the like, from another for a period of time; lessee.
- Law. a person who holds or possesses for a time lands, tenements, or personalty of another, usually for rent.
- an occupant or inhabitant of any place.
- to hold or occupy as a tenant; dwell in; inhabit.
- to dwell or live (usually followed by in).
Origin of tenant
Related Words for tenant
dweller, resident, occupant, renter, inhabitant, holder, lodger, lessee, boarder, possessor, householder, roomer, addressee, leaseholder, indweller, occupierExamples from the Web for tenant
Contemporary Examples of tenant
But the law itself is hard to enforce unless there is a specific complaint about a tenant.
Phineas has just suffered the defeat of his bill to strengthen the rights of Irish tenant farmers.
It occurs after Phineas has just suffered the defeat of his bill to improve the condition of Irish tenant farmers.
He said to police, the tenant's "face could have run into my hand."
In another instance, Sharif told a court he didn't hit a tenant from whom his brother and he were trying to collect back rent.
Historical Examples of tenant
The last I heard of him, he was the tenant of a western penitentiary.
The Works of Whittier, Volume V (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
She was betrothed to a good young man, too: a tenant of his.
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
From something in your last, I would wish to explain my idea of being your tenant.
The Letters of Robert BurnsRobert Burns
I have no foolish notion of being a tenant on easier terms than another.
The Letters of Robert BurnsRobert Burns
No tenant could be found for the place, which was avoided as if the plague still clung to it.
Self-HelpSamuel Smiles
tenant
- a person who holds, occupies, or possesses land or property by any kind of right or title, esp from a landlord under a lease
- a person who has the use of a house, flat, etc, subject to the payment of rent
- any holder or occupant
- (tr) to hold (land or property) as a tenant
- (intr foll by in) rare to dwell
Word Origin for tenant
Word Origin and History for tenant
early 14c., "person who holds lands by title or by lease," from Anglo-French tenaunt (late 13c.), Old French tenant (12c.), noun use of present participle of tenir "to hold," from Latin tenere "hold, keep" (see tenet).