TENANT

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tenant mean? 

• TENANT (noun)
  The noun TENANT has 3 senses:

1. someone who pays rent to use land or a building or a car that is owned by someone else

2. a holder of buildings or lands by any kind of title (as ownership or lease)

3. any occupant who dwells in a place

  Familiarity information: TENANT used as a noun is uncommon.

• TENANT (verb)
  The verb TENANT has 1 sense:

1. occupy as a tenant

  Familiarity information: TENANT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TENANT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who pays rent to use land or a building or a car that is owned by someone else

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

renter; tenant

Context example:

the landlord can evict a tenant who doesn't pay the rent

Hypernyms ("tenant" is a kind of...):

payer; remunerator (a person who pays money for something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tenant"):

leaseholder; lessee (a tenant who holds a lease)

boarder; lodger; roomer (a tenant in someone's house)

Derivation:

tenancy (an act of being a tenant or occupant)

tenant (occupy as a tenant)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A holder of buildings or lands by any kind of title (as ownership or lease)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("tenant" is a kind of...):

holder (a person who holds something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tenant"):

cotenant (one of two or more tenants holding title to the same property)

life tenant (a tenant whose legal right to retain possession of buildings or lands lasts as long as they (or some other person) live)

tenant farmer (a farmer who works land owned by someone else)

Derivation:

tenancy (an act of being a tenant or occupant)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any occupant who dwells in a place

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("tenant" is a kind of...):

occupant; occupier; resident (someone who lives at a particular place for a prolonged period or who was born there)

Derivation:

tenancy (an act of being a tenant or occupant)

tenant (occupy as a tenant)

• TENANT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tenant    ... he / she / it tenants   
Past simple: tenanted   
Past participle: tenanted   
-ing form: tenanting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Occupy as a tenant

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "tenant" is one way to...):

dwell; inhabit; live; populate (be an inhabitant of or reside in)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

tenant (someone who pays rent to use land or a building or a car that is owned by someone else)

tenant (any occupant who dwells in a place)

tenantry (tenants of an estate considered as a group)

 Context examples 

That the Hall is tenanted by Williamson.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Apparently the tenants had brought little or nothing with them, and all the furniture down to the smallest details had been taken over with the house.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Could not be a better time, Sir Walter, for having a choice of tenants, very responsible tenants.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

He then told me that he had become the tenant of Uriah Heep's old house; and that Mrs. Micawber would be delighted to receive me, once more, under her own roof.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I am sure of an excellent tenant at half a word.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

When he did come down, it was to attend to business: his agent and some of his tenants were arrived, and waiting to speak with him.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There is not one of his tenants or servants but will give him a good name.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect equality, as they were frequently together.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“The cottage is still tenanted,” it said.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Whilst the Seneschal of Villefranche had been detailing the evil doings of his tenants, Alleyne had been unable to take his eyes from the face of Lady Tiphaine.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)