Meaning & use
apartment
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Meanings
nouncountableAmerican
A set of rooms for living in, usually on one floor of a larger building.
Grammar: Countable: one apartment, two apartments. In British English, 'flat' is the usual word for this.
Patterns
- live in an apartment
- rent an apartment
- a two-bedroom apartment
They rent a small apartment near the station.
We're looking for an apartment with a balcony.
Her apartment is on the fifth floor.
nouncountableformal
A private set of rooms in a large house or official building, especially for one person or family.
Grammar: Often used for grand or official homes, as in 'a private apartment in the palace'.
Patterns
- a private apartment
- the royal apartments
The president has private apartments on the top floor.
Guests stay in a separate apartment in the east wing.
Word forms
| plural | apartments |
|---|
Common combinations
- apartment building
- They live in a new apartment building downtown.
- apartment complex
- The apartment complex has a gym and a pool.
- furnished apartment
- We rented a furnished apartment for six months.
- studio apartment
- A studio apartment is small but cheap.
- move into an apartment
- We moved into our apartment last week.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- apartment building noun
- A building containing many apartments.
Commonly confused: apartment or compartment?
apartment vs compartment
A 'compartment' is a small separate section, for example in a train, not a home.
Practice
In British English, the usual word for an 'apartment' is a _____.
Choose one answer.
'Flat' is the everyday British word for a set of rooms to live in. A 'house' is a whole building, a 'room' is just one space, and a 'cell' is a small room for a prisoner.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “apartment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.