apartment

noun

apart·​ment ə-ˈpärt-mənt 

plural apartments

1

: a room or set of rooms fitted especially with housekeeping facilities and usually leased as a dwelling

2

: a building containing several individual apartments

3

British : a large and impressive room or set of rooms

—usually plural

Assured that the Queen and Prince Philip had retired to bed, Mr Hillyard tried to pass through the Royal apartments as the train left Aberdeen on its journey to London.

—Jonathan Petre

apartmental

ə-ˌpärt-ˈmen-tᵊl 

adjective

Synonyms of apartment

• penthouse
• lodgings
• condominium
• suite
• flat
• tenement
• condo

Examples of apartment in a Sentence

We lived in an apartment for several years before buying a house.

a spacious six-room apartment that occupies the entire upper floor of a two-family house

Recent Examples on the Web

All five girls jumped off the couch, stampeded toward the apartment door, and tumbled into the building’s stairwell, stepping on each other’s heels. —Anna Wiener, New Yorker, 4 May 2026

Hundreds more homes, apartments to come Later phases of development would include more housing beyond the Westveil subdivision, though exact numbers of units are not clear. —Rose Evans may 3, Idaho Statesman, 3 May 2026

Rick Jones, vice chairman of Management Services Corporation, which owns 4,000 apartment units in Virginia and is party to the lawsuit, said that’s partly due to increasing fraud. —Michael Casey, Fortune, 3 May 2026

Gloria, her son, and Rickman moved to an apartment in the town of Tumwater in September 2021, and her heartbroken parents chose to sell their hotel. —Paul Larosa, CBS News, 3 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French appartement, going back to Middle French, borrowed from Italian appartamento, borrowed from Spanish apartamiento "withdrawal, remote spot, residence," from apartar "to separate, take aside" (reflexive, "to withdraw") (derivative of aparte "aside, apart entry 1") + -miento -ment

First Known Use

circa 1645, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing apartment

• apartment building
• apartment hotel
• duplex apartment
• efficiency apartment
• garden apartment
• in-law apartment
• mother-in-law apartment
• studio apartment

Rhymes for apartment

• compartment
• departement
• department

Kids Definition

apartment

noun

apart·​ment ə-ˈpärt-mənt 

1

: a room or set of rooms used as a dwelling

2

: apartment building