homemade
Americanadjective
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made or prepared at home, locally, or by the maker's own efforts.
The restaurant's pastry is homemade. Breakfast at the farmhouse always meant homemade preserves.
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made in one's own country; domestic.
I prefer a homemade car to one of those foreign models.
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made, contrived, or assembled by oneself; not professionally made or done; amateurish.
the plain look of homemade furniture.
Etymology
Origin of homemade
Explanation
Something that's homemade is created by a real person, usually in their own house, rather than being mass-produced. Your dad's homemade apple pie is the best you've ever tasted. Your famous homemade chocolate chip cookies are likely to be a bigger hit at the bake sale than a box of ginger snaps dumped on a plate. And the homemade sweater you got for your birthday might be a little itchy, but it's special because your aunt lovingly knitted it herself, using yarn in your favorite color. Homemade things aren't just made at home — they're also usually made with more care than goods produced in factories.
Vocabulary lists containing homemade
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
McGroggan's was famous for its homemade ice cream.
From BBC • May 30, 2026
Add a spoonful to your next homemade dressing: ranch dressing, Caesar dressing, coleslaw, anything mayo-based, and it suddenly tastes more alive.
From Salon • May 28, 2026
Her family can still live on her husband’s income as a traffic engineer, and Bigalk earns some money selling homemade wreaths at farmers markets.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
As Debbie sat at the register inside, helping a steady flow of the shop’s final patrons, protesters gathered behind the building, clutching homemade posters and waiting for Jeremy to speak.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
They stumbled toward the window, but Leo set off his homemade firecrackers—snapping them around the dwarfs’ bare feet to keep them off balance.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
