apartment

Example sentences

• "They live in a small apartment near the park."

  Level A1

• "The apartment has two bedrooms and a balcony."

  Level A1

• "We are looking for a new apartment."

  Level A2

• "My friend moved to a bigger apartment last month."

  Level A2

Synonyms and antonyms

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• flat : Flat is the British word for apartment. Both mean a home in a larger building.
• condo : A condo is an apartment that a person owns. An apartment can be rented or owned.

Word family and forms

Forms: apartments

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "apartment".

• rent an apartment
• a small apartment
• an apartment building
• move to an apartment
• a studio apartment
• apartment hunting

Origin

Apartment came into English in the 1600s from French appartement, which took it from Italian appartamento. The Italian word is built from appartare, to set apart, and means a separated set of rooms. The idea is a part of a building kept apart from the rest.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

Usage notes

"Apartment" is the American word, British English usually says "flat" for the same kind of home.

How to remember it

Apartment is apart plus ment. Each home in the building is kept apart from the others.

Test yourself

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