tenement

Everyday

1. A tenement is a large old building divided into many flats, especially one that was crowded and often poor, as in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin or New York in the past. tree →
2. (Scotland) A tenement is any block of flats several floors high with a shared stair (a close). tree →
3. A tenement can also mean the body that a spirit lives in, an old-fashioned or poetic use. tree →

In the lessons

In history lessons about the Victorian era and industrial cities, children learn about tenement families living in one or two rooms with shared toilets. In Scotland today, many people still live happily in old stone tenements. Phrases: «tenement building», «tenement flat», «tenement close».

Examples

• Many families lived in crowded tenements in Victorian Glasgow. tree →
• Our great-great-grandparents had one room in a tenement. tree →
• The tenement had a shared toilet on each landing. tree →
• Gran grew up in a tenement flat in Edinburgh. tree →
• New York's tenements were full of new immigrants. tree →
• The old tenement has been turned into smart flats. tree →
• The Russian peasants have very confused ideas about the local habitation of the disembodied spirit, after its former tenement has been laid in the grave. tree →

Note

Countable. Not the same as «tenant» (a person who rents a home). Pronounced «TEN-uh-ment».