rent strike

American  

noun

1. a temporary, organized refusal by tenants, as of an apartment building, to pay their rent, as in protest over inadequate services.

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Etymology

Origin of rent strike

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rent strike

She would work with Martin Luther King Jr. on his rent strike in Chicago and, her son reports, had a single magical meeting with Muhammad Ali.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026

Flores had attached a sign to the front with a message calling for a citywide rent strike.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2025

Veritas is one of the largest landlords in San Francisco and owns most of the buildings where tenant associations have declared a rent strike.

From New York Times ● Jan. 15, 2024

The students leading the rent strike tweeted: "Shame on @OfficialUoM that they would rather do this than consider basic demands for affordable rent."

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2023

Yet all who have followed the recent rent strike on the East Side, know that the tenement houses there are in large part owned by men as poor as those who live in them.

From Twentieth Century Socialism What It Is Not; What It Is: How It May Come by Kelly, Edmond