domicile

American  

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

Or domicil

noun

domiciles plural

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

2. Law. a permanent legal residence.

---

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

---

verb

1. to establish or be established in a dwelling place

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• undomiciled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• domiciles
  plural

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”; see colonus) + -ium -ium

Explanation

Domicile is a fancy word for the place where you live. Whether it's a mansion on 5th Avenue or a one-room shack in the desert, if you live in it, it's your domicile. If you live somewhere — such as in a house, on a houseboat, or in an apartment — then you have a domicile, or simply, housing. In the eyes of the law, your domicile is your legal place of residence. You can turn domicile into a verb, and say that you are currently domiciled in the Caribbean — but you'd probably only use that terminology if you were on trial for something like tax evasion.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

domicile domiciles domiciled domiciling

The majority opinion roundly rejected Alito and Thomas’ arguments about domicile.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

Companies like Spotify, Cloudflare, and Enterprise Products are excluded from the S&P 500 due to domicile, profitability, or corporate structure.

From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026

He explained that domicile is determined by a person’s primary residence and their intent to return to that residence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026

Wong Kim Ark “concerned children of aliens with a lawful domicile in the United States, not children of temporarily present aliens or illegal aliens.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026

With an indignant squawk, Rose led the way into their new domicile, tempted by a trail of grain.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

His co-author and Wharton economics colleague Kent Smetters says tools such as Zoom make it easier than before to move domiciles and avoid a state or local wealth tax.

From Barron's ● Jan. 3, 2026

Zhao himself kept to a series of international domiciles, apparently most recently in Dubai; the headquarters of the firm itself have been hard to pin down.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2023

Housing Authority, the Department of Employment Services and agency domiciles of the deputy mayor for public safety.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2022

Spottiswoode has a good reason for poking around avian domiciles.

From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2022

Fact: Many of the domiciles in Century Village do not have family rooms with desks.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

Black people who were enslaved were undoubtedly domiciled here, but the same is not true of temporary visitors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

“If Congress intended to limit American citizenship to the children of those domiciled in the United States, nothing in the succinct language of the Citizenship Clause conveyed that design,” Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission suit suggests that the agency thinks it can go after bad actors on Polymarket, even though the platform isn’t registered with the agency and is legally domiciled in Panama.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

Sauer argued that not all people born in the U.S. are domiciled in or allegiant to the country—and therefore not under the country’s jurisdiction.

From Barron's ● Apr. 1, 2026

The protection for unprinted works covers playright and the right to translate, and protects any author domiciled within Holland or the Dutch Indies.

From Copyright: Its History and Its Law by Bowker, Richard Rogers

The benefits of domiciling in the U.S. rarely outweighed the risks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026

Many asset managers enjoy lower tax rates by domiciling funds in countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg.

From Reuters ● Jun. 2, 2021

That would be like domiciling at an EconoLodge.

From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2013

But his surveys of Manhattan subways, sewage, traffic and domiciling reveal conditions so overwhelmingly horrible that even Dreamer Strauss loses heart.

From Time Magazine Archive

Even those whose passion for the races is well developed will easily find a method of being present at the Grand Prix without domiciling themselves among us.

From Paris from the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Volume 1 by Walton, William