Tenant Definition & Meaning

American

British

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms tenant American [ten-uhnt] / ˈtɛn ənt /

noun

1. a person or group that rents and occupies land, a house, an office, or the like, from another for a period of time; lessee.

2. Law. a person who holds or possesses for a time lands, tenements, or personalty of another, usually for rent.

3. an occupant or inhabitant of any place.

verb (used with object)

1. to hold or occupy as a tenant; dwell in; inhabit.

verb (used without object)

1. to dwell or live (usually followed byin ).

tenant British / ˈtɛnənt /

noun

1. a person who holds, occupies, or possesses land or property by any kind of right or title, esp from a landlord under a lease

2. a person who has the use of a house, flat, etc, subject to the payment of rent

3. any holder or occupant

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

1. (tr) to hold (land or property) as a tenant

2. rare to dwell

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

• nontenant noun
• nontenantable adjective
• tenant-like adjective
• tenantable adjective
• tenantless adjective
• tenantlike adjective
• untenantable adjective
• untenanted adjective

Etymology

Origin of tenant

1250–1300; Middle English tena ( u ) nt < Anglo-French; Middle French tenant, noun use of present participle of tenir to hold ≪ Latin tenēre. See -ant

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Port director Bethann Rooney said terminal lease extensions require that tenants increase a terminal’s capacity by modernizing chokepoints such as ship berths, container yards and truck gates.

From The Wall Street Journal

We sat around the radio with our downstairs tenant, Professor Palansky, and listened to the reports of the fighting in Krakow and all over Poland.

From Literature

Our previous home had been two rooms in a compound house where we shared the bathroom and kitchen with other tenants.

From Literature

In a statement issued in late January, a manager for the apartment complex said “the ICE agent is no longer a tenant and has permanently vacated the property.”

From Los Angeles Times

Galaxy is in discussions with possible tenants for that campus and is looking at other potential data-center sites in Texas and elsewhere, CEO Mike Novogratz said on a conference call.

From Barron's

Related Words

• dweller
• holder
• inhabitant
• occupant
• renter
• resident

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.