1. apartment buildings, especially old or run-down ones divided into small living units for low-income residents
Usage: often refers to older urban housing
2. any property held by a tenant; land or buildings rented from a landlord
Usage: legal; formal

Examples

• The old tenements in the Lower East Side housed many immigrant families.
• City inspectors found code violations in several tenements downtown.
• Many tenements were built in the early 1900s to accommodate factory workers.
• The landlord owns three tenements on the same block.
• Conditions in the crowded tenements were often unsanitary.
• Urban renewal projects replaced many old tenements with modern housing.