English edit

Etymology edit

base +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation edit

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

Noun edit

basement (plural basements)

  1. A floor of a building below ground level.
    • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, →OCLC:
      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 edit

Translations edit

Anagrams edit