husband
Americannoun
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husbands
plural
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a married man, especially when considered in relation to his partner in marriage.
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British. a manager.
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Archaic. a prudent or frugal manager.
verb (used with object)
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husbands,
present (3rd person singular)
-
husbanded,
past participle, past
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husbanding
present participle
noun
-
a woman's partner in marriage
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archaic
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a manager of an estate
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a frugal person
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verb
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to manage or use (resources, finances, etc) thriftily
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archaic
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(tr) to find a husband for
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(of a woman) to marry (a man)
-
-
obsolete (tr) to till (the soil)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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husbandsimple
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husbandssimple
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have husbandedperfect
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has husbandedperfect
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am husbandingprogressive
-
are husbandingprogressive
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is husbandingprogressive
-
have been husbandingperfect progressive
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has been husbandingperfect progressive
Past
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husbandedsimple
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had husbandedperfect
-
was husbandingprogressive
-
were husbandingprogressive
-
had been husbandingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of husband
before 1000; Middle English husband ( e ), Old English hūsbonda master of the house < Old Norse hūsbōndi, equivalent to hūs house + bōndi ( bō-, variant of bū- dwell ( see boor) + -nd present participle suffix + -i inflectional ending)
Explanation
A husband is a married man. Your grandfather might joke that he and your grandmother have been husband and wife for so long because she has the patience of a saint and he is deaf as a post. The word husband comes from the Old Norse hūsbōndi, where hūs meant house and bōndi meant dweller. As a verb, husband means to conserve resources and use them frugally. Because of the flooding in the area, roads are cut off and everyone is being asked to husband their supplies. This conservation of resources sense of husband also occurs in the related noun husbandry.
Vocabulary lists containing husband
The Taming of the Shrew
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Units 2–3
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"The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare, Induction
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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:
What’s constantly baffling is how much affection Holmes has for her repugnant husband, no matter how much he twists stories or alienates the film crew.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
Her husband, Zeesharn Moustapha, said that their family felt "very helpless" and that their "only possible solution" was for Burnham to "make a phone call to Egypt" to end the detainment.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
This week in the Fix My Portfolio column, Beth Pinsker answered questions from a woman who, alongside her husband, has prepared carefully for retirement, with several sources of income.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
In another interview Thursday with pro-Trump outlet Real America's Voice, Zacharia said she had registered to take the bar exam but was "distracted and overwhelmed" by plans to move to China with her husband.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Joey has increasingly become a voice for advocacy, and her husband back at home isn’t happy about it.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Finding well-off husbands is Elinor and Marianne’s only hope of returning to something like the comfort they have known.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
"About 60% of husbands and wives in the sample said they exercised, but only about a third exercised together," Yorgason said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
Still, there’s clearly a lot of resentment among some Christian conservative women about husbands who don’t do chores.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
Counselling is also offered as well as information on how partners and husbands can support them.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
For the most part, husbands left wives, even physically or mentally ill wives, to run the home and raise the children as they saw fit.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
As it is, I like to think of Dr. Lecter in his Maple Leafs warm-up jersey, losing his carefully husbanded gourmet meal to the little boy.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021
From there to the line, she husbanded her lead like someone who had been doing it all her life.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 7, 2018
After his parents divorced, Folkert’s mom did yard work and landscaping and cleaned houses to earn money — which she husbanded with care.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2018
Tollett has not only husbanded the landscape; he has branded it.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 10, 2017
Even the wilderness is carefully husbanded there, and though that forest had been logged for centuries there were no waste places in it, no desolations of stumps, no eroded slopes.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
The glimpse reminded voters that Davis, who was husbanding his resources for a late advertising push, was still in the race.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026
He lacks a strategy for husbanding his domestic political capital, without which he will be remembered mainly as an interruption.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Allies allow you to project power while husbanding your own resources.
From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2025
"The greater risk environment for financials leads to husbanding of capital and risk-taking, less and more conservative investing and lending, and inevitably, lower growth," said Blankfein, who also served as Goldman's chairman, told Reuters.
From Reuters ● Mar. 20, 2023
Aragorn let them drift with the stream as they wished, husbanding their strength against weariness to come.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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