basement

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English

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Etymology

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From base +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈbeɪsmənt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪsmənt
  • Hyphenation: base‧ment

Noun

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basement (plural basements)

  1. A floor of a building below ground level.
    • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider []”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, [], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:
      Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
  2. (geology) A mass of igneous or metamorphic rock forming the foundation over which a platform of sedimentary rocks is laid.
  3. (sports, informal) Last place in a sports conference's standings.

Derived terms

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Anagrams

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