- present participle of dwell.
dwelling
Americannoun
-
dwellings
plural
noun
Synonym Usage
See house.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dwelling
Explanation
A dwelling is a home — where someone lives. Houses, apartments, and condos are all dwellings. If you know that to dwell means to live somewhere, then the meaning of dwelling won't be a surprise: it's an abode, domicile, or home. Your dwelling might be a house or an apartment. Tents, trailers, and igloos are all dwellings. Anything people live in is a dwelling. If you have no dwelling, then you have no shelter and you're probably homeless.
Vocabulary lists containing dwelling
Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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There's No Word Like Home
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "D"
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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:
Mary Duggan said Lion Green Road was a project "about the culture of dwelling"
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Rumination refers to repeatedly dwelling on distressing thoughts, worries, or negative experiences.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2026
Part of this resilience can be traced to the enduring Jewish practices for mourning—practices that focus on dwelling with the loss, not trying immediately to move past it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Rather than dwelling on the absence of a right hand, Fontaine saw something wondrous coming out of Abbott’s left hand — a cut fastball.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Mark followed him, determined to stop dwelling on the past.
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
Permits for build multifamily dwellings drove the rise, increasing 23.8% during the month, with Ontario leading gains by seven provinces and two territories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
All of the dwellings along the beachfront stretch sit on land that slopes toward the ocean, providing jaw-dropping views over the water.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
The 2026 Homeless Count recorded just 27 unhoused individuals in 16 dwellings, such as vehicles, tents or makeshift shelters, in Malibu.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
There were more than 24,000 dwellings, external liable for second home council tax in Wales, according to 2023-24 government data.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Esperanza’s book had opened his eyes to the horrors of the empire El Patron had built, and he had seen for himself the low, dark dwellings of the eejits that were no better than coffins.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
