walk-up

American  

[wawk-uhp] / ˈwɔkˌʌp /

noun

1. an apartment above the ground floor in a building that has no elevator.

2. a building, especially an apartment house, that has no elevator.

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adjective

1. located above the ground floor in a building that has no elevator.

2. having no elevator.

3. accessible to pedestrians from the outside of a building.

   a walk-up teller's window at a bank.

walk-up British  

noun

1. informal

   1. a block of flats having no lift

   2. ( as modifier )

      a walk-up block

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Etymology

Origin of walk-up

1915–20, noun, adj. use of verb phrase walk up

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

walk-up

Think about an 80-year-old widow on the sixth floor of a walk-up, paying $1,000 a month for an apartment she has held since 1995, whose stairs she can no longer manage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026

We live on the fourth floor of a walk-up that is typically devoid of insects.

From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026

She lives with her husband, her mother and her two kids in a second-floor walk-up apartment in Los Angeles.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026

The theater’s walk-up food window is serving pizza-inspired baked potatoes, a colored chocolate pretzel meant to mimic an asparagus pretzel wand, and more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026

I love my aunt’s condo—a two-flat walk-up in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.

From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

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Related Words

• co-op
• condo
• condominium
• cooperative
• flat
• suite

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