housewife
Americannoun
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housewives
plural
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Sometimes Offensive. a married woman who manages her own household, especially as her principal occupation.
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British. a sewing box; a small case or box for needles, thread, etc.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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a woman, typically a married woman, who keeps house, usually without having paid employment
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Also called: hussy. huswife. a small sewing kit issued to soldiers
Sensitive Note
Most people, married or unmarried, find the term housewife perfectly acceptable. But it is sometimes perceived as insulting, perhaps because it implies a lowly status (“She’s just a housewife”) or because it defines an occupation in terms of a woman's relation to a man. Homemaker is a fairly common substitute.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of housewife
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English hus(e)wif; see origin at house, wife
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:
"I have no words," Maria Caridad Alvarez, a 62-year-old housewife, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
"The loss of the leader is heavier than losing our parents," Hoda, a 35-year-old housewife, told AFP news agency.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Even before her husband’s death and her takeover as CEO of TPUSA, she was a highly-educated career woman only playing at being the demure housewife for his audiences.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
In this brief, eerie novel by the Indian writer Anita Desai, the daughter of an unhappy Indian housewife learns that her mother had once dreamed of becoming a painter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
She told me that what she hopes people will learn from her life “is that every individual, even a very ordinary housewife or secretary, can make a difference.”
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
But he is entitled to be a freeman of Llantrisant through his grandmother Gwen as he is "descended from coal miners from Senghenydd and housewives from Pontypridd", and is related to an existing freeman.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
German defence giant Rheinmetall on Sunday sought to smooth over a row caused by comments from its boss comparing Ukrainian factories producing drones to "housewives" making weapons in their kitchens.
From Barron's ● Mar. 29, 2026
At one point housewives were admonished not to shake their dust mops outdoors lest that contribute to smog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In nonprofit has shed about a quarter of its staff as the founder focuses the feminist organization on pushing back against the “tradwife” and manosphere movements that prioritize women’s roles as housewives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
Soon the number of patients being treated by Socios en Salud jumped to about fifty—students, housewives, street vendors, health workers, unemployed youth.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
