n.1 a room or a set of rooms forming a separate residence within a house or block of flats.
2 US & Sc. a house divided into and let in tenements.
3 a dwelling-place.
4 a a piece of land held by an owner. b Law any kind of permanent property, e.g. lands or rents, held from a superior.
Phrases and idioms:
tenement-house US & Sc. sense 2.
Derivatives:
tenemental adj. tenementary adj.
Etymology: ME f. OF f. med.L tenementum f. tenere hold