household
Americannoun
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households
plural
adjective
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of or relating to a household.
household furniture.
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for use in maintaining a home, especially for use in cooking, cleaning, laundering, repairing, etc., in the home.
a household bleach.
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common or usual; ordinary.
noun
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the people living together in one house collectively
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(modifier) of, relating to, or used in the running of a household; domestic
household management
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of household
First recorded in 1350–1400, household is from the Middle English word houshold. See house, hold 1
Explanation
How many people does your house hold? That’s your household! A household refers to a family or group of people living together. It’s a social unit under one roof. All the people living in your house, including servants, make up your household. Don’t have any servants? Well, your roommates count as part of your household, too. In the middle of the night, your household might be asleep. Your household income could determine whether or not you get the pool in the backyard. Household can also be an adjective to describe — you guessed it — things that are in your house, like household appliances or household furniture.
Vocabulary lists containing household
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.
See Examples For:
The result is that large numbers are ending up in household bins and, in some cases, recycling collections.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
The EIA warns that switching fuels would not necessarily result in lower expenditures for every household.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Britain's finance minister John Healey will unveil his first budget Wednesday, as he juggles commitments to defence spending and easing household bills with little financial room to manoeuvre.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
I wondered what languages are spoken in her household.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
There are many accounts of what fieldwork and household duties were like for enslaved adults.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Elsewhere, the paper reveals the high street giant Poundland is on the "brink of declaring insolvency", even as Healey attempts to help struggling businesses and households, the paper writes.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Resilience among manufacturers in particular is driving expectations that Germany will continue its tentative economic recovery in the second half of this year, though falling confidence among households could weigh on these hopes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
New England households paid an average of $6.11 a gallon on Oct.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
From 1999 to 2014, median household income for three-person households dropped a staggering 27 percent, more than in any other metropolitan area in the country.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026
There was no “children should be seen and not heard” rule, as was common in Victorian households.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
