assisted living

This term describes a specific tier of senior care that sits between independent living and a skilled nursing facility. It is characterized by a residential environment where residents have their own apartments but have access to shared dining, social activities, and essential help with activities of daily living, such as bathing or medication management.

In a professional or medical context, it is treated as a category of care rather than a physical building, though it is often used metonymically to refer to the facility itself. Because it describes a conceptual system of care, it is used as an uncountable noun and does not take a plural form.