domicile

American  

[dom-uh-sahyl, -suhl, doh-muh-] / ˈdɒm əˌsaɪl, -səl, ˈdoʊ mə- /

Or domicil

noun

1. a place of residence; house or home; abode.

2. Law. a permanent legal residence.

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verb (used with object)

domiciled, domiciling

1. to establish in a domicile.

domicile British  

/ ˈdɒmɪˌsaɪl, ˈdɒmɪˌsɪl /

noun

1. a dwelling place

2. a permanent legal residence

3. commerce the place where a bill of exchange is to be paid

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verb

1. to establish or be established in a dwelling place

Other Word Forms

• undomiciled adjective

Etymology

Origin of domicile

First recorded in 1470–80; from Middle French, from Latin domicilium, equivalent to domicol(a) ( domi-, combining form of domus “house” + -cola “dweller”; colonus ) + -ium -ium

Example Sentences

She thought that the situation of enslaved people’s children was not something that could be settled on the basis of any domicile requirement.

From Slate • Apr. 1, 2026

The company changed its name to Quantum Computing and domicile to Delaware from North Carolina in 2018.

From Barron's • Mar. 2, 2026

It found Peters’s physical presence and familial abode “more strongly” indicated his domicile was in California and that his physical presence and property “heavily support California residency.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 25, 2026

Instead, it’ll be “somewhere on the East Coast,” while Delaware will be the legal domicile.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 10, 2025

From the humble beginnings of the storefront on Hart Street, to the respectable but by no means splashy domicile off Beniteau, Assumption was finally going to get a grand church building.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides