homesick
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of homesick
Explanation
When you're away from home and you miss it terribly, you're homesick. Most kids get homesick when they first go to summer camp. Everyone feels homesick sometimes, but it's probably most common for kids to get homesick when they're on their first sleepover or visiting their grandparents, or even when they leave for college as freshmen. There is a wistful yearning included in the idea of being homesick — a longing to be back where you started. Homesickness came first, from the German heimweh, "home woe" or "home pain."
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.
She made several homesick calls to her sisters during that first year, but as she started making new friends and getting involved in more activities like tennis, she adjusted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
During World War II, 17 homesick soldiers stationed in the South Pacific wrote a letter home to Long Beach, which appeared on the front page of a 1945 edition of the Press-Telegram.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
One entry tells of a woman from France who was feeling "homesick" while living in Mumbles.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
"I wanted a break," he remembers, partly because he was "homesick" for the city.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
‘I reckon you ghy be a little bit homesick these first few days. But won’t be long.’
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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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.
