homeless

[ hohm-lis ]

adjective

1. without a home or without permanent housing:

   a homeless refugee.

noun

, (used with a plural verb)

1. Usually the homeless. Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. people who lack permanent housing or a fixed residence, collectively.

homeless

/ ˈhəʊmlɪs /

adjective

1. 1. having nowhere to live
   2. ( as collective noun; preceded by the )

      the homeless

Sensitive Note

There are a number of words used to label people who don’t have permanent housing. While the term homeless was used without controversy for some time, advocates for this population, many style guides, and some people who identify as members of this group now prefer other terms including unhoused, houseless, and unsheltered. The alternative terms to homeless each have a specific nuance of meaning. Unsheltered, for example, includes people who sleep in cars and under overpasses, but not people in temporary housing like city shelters. Houseless and unhoused both mean that a person lacks permanent housing, but may still be a member of a community that they call home, in which case the designation homeless is imprecise. Further, someone’s homeless status is often temporary, as expressed in the phrases “people moving through houselessness,” “people experiencing homelessness,” and “unsheltered people.” Nevertheless, the term homeless is easily understood and even preferred as a term of self-identification by many members of this community. The designation homeless is still widely used and only sometimes offensive or disparaging. However, one should be mindful of the negative connotation this word may have and the many unfortunate associations it has had with poverty, mental illness, substance abuse, or crime. The word should not be used as a euphemism for these other statuses and stigmatized conditions. Homeless should be used only in the strict denotative meaning, and alternative expressions that put the person first, like “an individual experiencing homelessness,” are often preferable.

Derived Forms

• ˈhomelessness, noun

Other Words From

• home·less·ly adverb
• home·less·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of homeless¹

First recorded before 1000; home ( def ) + -less ( def )

Example Sentences

Her house in Donetsk, she says, has been taken over by rebels and her family is now all but homeless.

From The Daily Beast

Mark Reay is a handsome model-turned-photographer who is homeless, living in a secret ‘nest’ on top of an apartment building.

From The Daily Beast

Some of these young men are sex workers, homeless, and drug users.

From The Daily Beast

Earlier this month the Vatican announced the installation of free showers for the homeless in public bathrooms in the city-state.

From The Daily Beast

Rome charities estimate that there are around 8,000 homeless people in Rome.

From The Daily Beast

There is, perhaps, in this childish suffering often something more than the sense of being homeless and outcast.

From Project Gutenberg

Pride forbade him to confess himself a homeless, penniless vagabond.

From Project Gutenberg

The wise man depends on us for his roof and lodging; and without us he would be homeless.

From Project Gutenberg

Then she was a little, homeless, orphan girl who was "taken in out of charity" by Uncle Jabez.

From Project Gutenberg

But you must not think that she is a homeless child with a torn dress; she looks quite different.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• houseless
• unhoused
• unsheltered