husband
Americannoun
-
husbands
plural
-
a married man, especially when considered in relation to his partner in marriage.
-
British. a manager.
-
Archaic. a prudent or frugal manager.
verb (used with object)
-
husbands,
present (3rd person singular)
-
husbanded,
past participle, past
-
husbanding
present participle
noun
-
a woman's partner in marriage
-
archaic
-
a manager of an estate
-
a frugal person
-
verb
-
to manage or use (resources, finances, etc) thriftily
-
archaic
-
(tr) to find a husband for
-
(of a woman) to marry (a man)
-
-
obsolete (tr) to till (the soil)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
husbandsimple
-
husbandssimple
-
have husbandedperfect
-
has husbandedperfect
-
am husbandingprogressive
-
are husbandingprogressive
-
is husbandingprogressive
-
have been husbandingperfect progressive
-
has been husbandingperfect progressive
Past
-
husbandedsimple
-
had husbandedperfect
-
was husbandingprogressive
-
were husbandingprogressive
-
had been husbandingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of husband
before 1000; Middle English husband ( e ), Old English hūsbonda master of the house < Old Norse hūsbōndi, equivalent to hūs house + bōndi ( bō-, variant of bū- dwell ( see boor) + -nd present participle suffix + -i inflectional ending)
Explanation
A husband is a married man. Your grandfather might joke that he and your grandmother have been husband and wife for so long because she has the patience of a saint and he is deaf as a post. The word husband comes from the Old Norse hūsbōndi, where hūs meant house and bōndi meant dweller. As a verb, husband means to conserve resources and use them frugally. Because of the flooding in the area, roads are cut off and everyone is being asked to husband their supplies. This conservation of resources sense of husband also occurs in the related noun husbandry.
Vocabulary lists containing husband
The Taming of the Shrew
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Units 2–3
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare, Induction
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Russell Brand's wife Laura has told a court her husband is "caring, kind and a wonderful father to our children".
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
She said when she and her husband moved to Lake Hollywood in 2017, they were looking for a home with a view.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Sidney’s husband, the Earl of Pembroke, sponsored Pembroke’s Men, a theatrical company with which Shakespeare may have been connected in the early 1590s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
We’re among them: When my husband went to grad school, his parents gave him the down payment for a small apartment in Tucson, Arizona.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026
Concerned for justice or retaliation for a son or husband, rather than a whole battalion of sons or husbands?”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
They also have in common husbands who are remote, albeit for vastly different reasons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
"About 60% of husbands and wives in the sample said they exercised, but only about a third exercised together," Yorgason said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
"I think men need to come into the conversation as well, and I'm not just talking husbands and partners, I'm talking sons," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Still, there’s clearly a lot of resentment among some Christian conservative women about husbands who don’t do chores.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
He had at first been excited by Facebook, ghosts of old friends suddenly morphing to life with wives and husbands and children, and photos trailed by comments.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
But he seemed diffident about them when we spoke and finally admitted that since the pandemic began all of his carefully husbanded nervousness has been consumed by life rather than work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2020
After his parents divorced, Folkert’s mom did yard work and landscaping and cleaned houses to earn money — which she husbanded with care.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2018
Tollett has not only husbanded the landscape; he has branded it.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 10, 2017
For decades, bootleg recordings of Miss Olivero’s voice, tenderly husbanded, passed from hand to covert hand among her legions of acolytes.
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2014
Wang Lung allowed nothing to be bought and sold after the winter came except what he said, and he husbanded carefully all that they had.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
The glimpse reminded voters that Davis, who was husbanding his resources for a late advertising push, was still in the race.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026
He lacks a strategy for husbanding his domestic political capital, without which he will be remembered mainly as an interruption.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Allies allow you to project power while husbanding your own resources.
From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2025
"The greater risk environment for financials leads to husbanding of capital and risk-taking, less and more conservative investing and lending, and inevitably, lower growth," said Blankfein, who also served as Goldman's chairman, told Reuters.
From Reuters ● Mar. 20, 2023
Aragorn let them drift with the stream as they wished, husbanding their strength against weariness to come.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
