Origin: Latin suffix -al
Residential has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
A trip during which people temporarily live together.
"The college announced that all freshmen must attend a mandatory residential weekend before classes begin."
"The residential area is mostly quiet after dark."
used or designed for residence or limited to residences
"a residential hotel"
"a residential quarter"
"a residential college"
"residential zoning"
of or relating to or connected with residence
"a residential requirement for the doctorate"
Of or pertaining to a place of personal residence or to a location for such places.
"The city council voted to extend new sidewalk safety laws to all residential zones in the neighborhood."
In plain English: Residential means something is used for people to live in, like a house or an apartment building.
"The new residential area is being built on the quiet hillside."
Usage: Use residential to describe areas designated for living, such as neighborhoods or housing complexes, rather than commercial zones like offices or factories. This adjective specifically distinguishes private dwellings from business districts in zoning and real estate contexts.
Derived from Latin residentialis, this adjective originally meant pertaining to residence or dwelling. It entered English in the early 17th century to describe things related to living quarters.