homesteader
Americannoun
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a person owning a homestead
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a person who acquires or possesses land under a homestead law
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a person taking part in a homesteading scheme
Etymology
Origin of homesteader
Explanation
Starting in the late 1860s, someone who settled on Western land was known as a homesteader. After farming it for a certain length of time, homesteaders gained ownership of the land. The term homesteader started with the Homestead Act of 1862, which encouraged independent farmers and families to claim land west of the Mississippi River. Homesteaders were granted 160 acres of land to "improve" over five years. Settlers benefitted from the law, but homesteaders pushed Native Americans out of vast areas of the West. Today, homesteader is also used for anyone who lives in a self-sufficient way, especially if they grow their own food crops.
Vocabulary lists containing homesteader
Simon Sort of Says
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Hattie Big Sky
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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.
You don’t need to become a homesteader or memorize the Farmer’s Almanac.
From Salon • Dec. 20, 2025
“I also had this growing desire to be a homesteader for real. And then after a while I was just like, ‘I grew a tomato!
From MarketWatch • Nov. 20, 2025
It all goes back to her father, Isaac Newton, the homesteader, and his perennial financial problems.
From Scientific American • Nov. 9, 2023
Bradford’s piece, a large-scale painting, takes on the history of Blackdom, a Black homesteader colony in Chaves County, N.M., in the early 20th century.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 4, 2023
He offered $15 an installment, “preferably monthly,” until my claim was proved up and I was no longer a homesteader.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Definitions 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.
