tenement
noun
a run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, especially in a poor section of a large city.
tenements
-
pluralof tenement.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
The tenements at Clune Park in Port Glasgow were built a century ago as housing for shipyard workers but most of the buildings lay empty for years.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Her crusade reflected her earlier shock upon seeing Lower East Side tenements for the first time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
It’s one of the world’s largest and densest slum clusters where families of six often live in 100-square tenements and 80 people may share a toilet.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 16, 2024
“Scores of the children will be seen sitting listlessly on the steps of the tenements or playing half-hearted games on the streets,” a New Yorker worried of city summers in 1903.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2023
It was made of old gray stone and had twin spires that rose cleanly into the sky, high above the tallest tenements.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
