Tenant definition

tĕnənt
tenants
See word origin
Frequency:
An occupant of or dweller in a specified place.
noun
8
1
One that pays rent to use or occupy land, a building, or other property owned by another.
noun
8
4
A dweller in a place; an occupant.
noun
5
3
The definition of a tenant is someone who rents land or property for their home or business.

An example of a tenant is a family who rents an apartment.

noun
2
1
A person who possesses lands, etc. by any kind of title.
noun
2
1
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A person who pays rent to occupy or use land, a building, etc.
noun
4
4
To hold as a tenant or be a tenant.
verb
3
3
The possessor or occupier of land by virtue of any kind of title or right. See tenancy.
noun
1
1
One who pays rent in order to temporarily occupy or possess someone else’s land under the terms of a lease or similar document. See lessee.
noun
1
1
A person with the right to use property for life, with no ability to bequeath same to own heirs.
1
1
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One who pays a fee (rent) in return for the use of land, buildings, or other property owned by others.
noun
1
1
One who has possession of any place; a dweller; an occupant.
noun
1
1
(law) One who holds a property by any kind of right, including ownership.
noun
1
1
To hold as, or be, a tenant.
verb
1
1
To hold as a tenant; occupy.
verb
1
2
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
tenant
Plural:
tenants

Origin of tenant

  • Middle English from Old French from present participle of tenir to hold from Latin tenēre ten- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • First attested 1325, from Anglo-Norman tenaunt, from Old French tenant, present participle of tenir (“to hold"), from Latin tenÄ“re, present active infinitive of teneō (“hold, keep").

    From Wiktionary

Tenant Sentence Examples

  • If the tenant paid his rent, the landlord could not forbid subletting.

  • Someone else was asking about her favorite tenant, Mr. Cleary.

  • Land was leased for houses or other buildings to be built upon it, the tenant being rent-free for eight or ten years; after which the building came into the landlord's possession.

  • Improvement contracts are granted for uncultivated bush districts, where one fourth of the produce goes to the landlord, and for plantations of fig-trees, olive-trees and vines, half of the produce of which belongs to the landlord, who at the end of ten years reimburses the tenant for a part of the improvements effected.

  • The contract generally' specified that the house was in good repair, and the tenant was bound to keep it so.

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