at-home
Americannoun
adjective
noun
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another name for open day
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a social gathering in a person's home
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In one's own residence, town, or country. For example, Mary was not at home when I called , or Tourists in a foreign country often behave more rudely than they do at home . This idiom was first recorded in a ninth-century treatise.
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Ready to receive a visitor, as in We are always at home to our neighbor's children . This usage gave rise to the noun at-home , meaning a reception to which guests are invited on a specific day at specific hours (also see open house ). [c. 1600]
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Also, at home with . Comfortable and familiar, as in Mary always makes us feel at home , or I've never been at home with his style of management . [Early 1500s] Also see at ease , def. 1.
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Also, at home with . Proficient, well-versed in, as in Young John is so much at home with numbers that he may well become a mathematician , or Chris is really at home in French . [Late 1700s]
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In team sports, playing on one's own field or in one's own town. For example, The Red Sox always do better at home than they do at away games .
Etymology
Origin of at-home
First recorded in 1740–45
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.
“Many consumers are directing discretionary spend toward out-of-home experiences, with live entertainment and sports growing at an outsized pace relative to at-home counterparts,” analyst Robert Fishman wrote in a note to clients.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 30, 2026
The Rebacks had an at-home EV charger installed recently for roughly $2,000, which they had planned even before the recent rise in gas prices.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
"This work offers a safe, at-home teeth whitening strategy integrating whitening, enamel repair and microbiome balance for long-term oral health," says Min Xing, first author on the study.
From Science Daily • Mar. 23, 2026
Before streaming platforms dominated at-home entertainment, consumers relied on places like Blockbuster, the now nearly erased movie rental chain and RedBox, the defunct movie vending machines, to watch newly released films.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026
But on the eve of the stay- at-home the entire English-language press crumbled and urged people to go to work.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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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.