a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household.
the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.
an institution for people who lack stable housing, who are sick or infirm, etc..
a nursing home;
a home for those with dementia.
the dwelling place or retreat of an animal.
the place or region where something is native or most common.
any place of residence or refuge.
a heavenly home.
a person's native place or own country.
a principal base of operations or activities.
The new stadium will be the home of the local football team.
(in games) the destination or goal.
Baseball. home plate.
Lacrosse. one of three attack positions nearest the opposing goal.
of, relating to, or connected with one's home or country.
home cooking;
the rising home demand for gasoline.
principal or main.
the corporation's home office.
reaching the mark aimed at.
a home thrust.
Sports. played in a ball park, arena, or the like, that is or is assumed to be the center of operations of a team.
The pitcher didn't lose a single home game all season.
to, toward, or at home.
to go home.
deep; to the heart.
The truth of the accusation struck home.
to the mark or point aimed at.
He drove the point home.
Nautical.
into the position desired; perfectly or to the greatest possible extent.
We radioed instructions to the crew, and the huge sails were sheeted home.
in the proper, stowed position.
The anchor is home.
toward its vessel.
to bring the anchor home.
to navigate toward a point by means of coordinates other than those given by altitudes (often followed byon ).
This clever defensive technology prevented torpedoes from homing on the U-boat.
to go or return home.
Bees have the ability to learn visual landmarks and use them when foraging and homing.
to have a home where specified; reside.
God now homes in the hearts of His people.
to provide with a home.
After being microchipped and fully vaccinated, the puppy was homed with six weeks free insurance.
Computers.
to provide (a computer) with a network connection.
Each subscriber must be homed to a node in the network.
to prepare (a 3D printer) for use by setting the horizontal and vertical limits for positioning the extruder before a printing task.
Do not try to do anything with your printer until you home it.
to provide a display or storage space for; house: The library homes a wide variety of resources for the avid gardener.
Adding lighting to the unit creates a stunning wall feature to home all your treasured possessions.
The library homes a wide variety of resources for the avid gardener.
to direct, especially under control of an automatic aiming device, toward an airport, target, etc..
The guidance system homed the missile on a target that was radar-illuminated by the launch aircraft.
to bring or send home.
home and dry, having safely achieved one's goal.
bring home to, to make evident to; clarify or emphasize for.
The irrevocability of her decision was brought home to her.
write home about, to comment especially on; remark on (usually used in the negative).
The town was nothing to write home about.
His cooking is really something to write home about.
at home,
in one's own house or place of residence.
in one's own town or country.
prepared or willing to receive social visits: We are always at home to her.
Tell him I'm not at home.
We are always at home to her.
in a situation familiar to one; at ease.
She has a way of making everyone feel at home.
to be at home in the classics.
played in one's hometown or on one's own grounds.
The Yankees played two games at home and one away.
home free,
assured of finishing, accomplishing, succeeding, etc..
If we can finish more than half the work today, we'll be home free.
certain to be successfully finished, accomplished, secured, etc..
With most of the voters supporting it, the new law is home free.
the place or a place where one lives
have you no home to go to?
a house or other dwelling
a family or other group living in a house or other place
a person's country, city, etc, esp viewed as a birthplace, a residence during one's early years, or a place dear to one
the environment or habitat of a person or animal
the place where something is invented, founded, or developed
the US is the home of baseball
a building or organization set up to care for orphans, the aged, etc
an informal name for a mental home
sport one's own ground
the match is at home
the objective towards which a player strives in certain sports
an area where a player is safe from attack
lacrosse
one of two positions of play nearest the opponents' goal
a player assigned to such a position
inside home
baseball another name for home plate
informal Britain, esp England
a place other than one's own home where one can be at ease
in one's own home or country
at ease, as if at one's own home
giving an informal party at one's own home
such a party
familiar or conversant with
Austral. and NZ equivalent: home and hosed. informal definitely safe or successful
we will not be home and dry until the votes have been counted
concerning one deeply
of, relating to, or involving one's home, country, etc; domestic
(of an activity) done in one's house
home taping
effective or deadly
a home thrust
sport relating to one's own ground
a home game
central; principal
the company's home office
to or at home
I'll be home tomorrow
to or on the point
to the fullest extent
hammer the nail home
(of nautical gear) into or in the best or proper position
the boom is home
to make clear to
to place the blame on
nautical (of an anchor) to fail to hold
to become absolutely clear to
informal to be of no particular interest
the film was nothing to write home about
(intr) (of birds and other animals) to return home accurately from a distance
to direct or be directed onto a point or target, esp by automatic navigational aids
to send or go home
to furnish with or have a home
(intr; often foll by in or in on) to be directed towards a goal, target, etc
See hone in ( def. ).
See house.
First recorded before 900; noun and adverb; Middle English hom, Old English hām; cognate with Dutch heim, Old Norse heimr, Danish hjem, Swedish hem, German Heim “home,” Gothic haims “village”; akin to haunt
Home is where you live: your house, apartment, or condo. It's also the place we feel most comfortable, loved, and protected — where we most feel at home. Home is many things to many people. It's the place you live, and the places you love: people might feel at home in a bookstore, a park, or certain cities. Old people live in nursing homes, and baseball players try to reach home plate. Animal shelters find homes for pets. Most people feel safe and happy at home, even if it's not perfect. It’s easy to find somewhere to live, but it’s tough to make a real home.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
About half of the tiny island is part of Acadia National Park, but it’s also home to around 60 year-round residents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
That simple, honorable point about the dignity of emigrating remains painfully controversial in Dean’s home country and here.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Gibraltar is home to only about 40,000 people but relies on some 15,500 workers who cross from Spain every day -- nearly half its workforce.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
He lived in Stretford, Greater Manchester, before he died in a care home on 30 October 2020, having been left bed-bound by his dementia.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
But what happens if that town is your home?
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed the suspect was not known to the government's Prevent anti-terror scheme.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Home prices exploded over the past five years.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
The last young Bundists to remain in the ghetto joined the Zionists in the Jewish Combat Organization, which had obtained 10 revolvers from the Home Army.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Widdecombe was a Conservative lawmaker between 1987 and 2010 and served as a Home Office minister and an employment minister under Prime Minister John Major.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Home gradually began to feel more distant, almost like a place in my imagination.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
The Times, for its part, called the subpoenas “an extraordinary escalation” and said the appearance of federal law enforcement at journalists’ homes should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the First Amendment.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
Villagers have been evacuated from their homes after a wildfire broke out in the Highlands.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
The worst natural gas leak in the nation’s history happened in 2015 in Aliso Canyon, and 11,000 people were evacuated from their Porter Ranch homes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
In Madrid, Karim Benzema, Rodrygo and Dani Carvajal are among the football stars to have suffered break-ins at their homes in recent years.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
They’d been meeting at each other’s homes for a month now, and judging from when they were on our veranda, they were doing at least as much chatting as studying.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Other institutional investors homed in on Fannie’s and Freddie’s pre-bailout “junior” preferred shares as a less risky bet.
From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026
He has also homed in on a canny, powerful message that could prove to have wider appeal than O’Rourke’s.
From Salon ● Mar. 9, 2026
On Tuesday morning, investors homed in on Anthropic’s Friday announcement that it was adding open-source plug-ins in research preview to Cowork that allow companies to customize and build on Claude.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
As the State Bar homed in on the problems with Meazure Learning, deans of some of California’s top law schools noted that the issues were not confined to the technology.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2025
And when we arrived at the village we saw the homed day-moon fixed exactly between the two dark mesas at the southern end of the valley!
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
While McLaren's Lando Norris, Mercedes' George Russell and Red Bull's Max Verstappen staged a frantic place-swapping scrap in the opening laps at Silverstone, Antonelli bided his time before homing in on Hamilton at the front.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
But homing in on the annoying and self-defeating aspects of it misses the real story of how the movement changed American society, and the world, for the better—and how Lindy West did too.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026
They used an Iranian-provided surface-to-air missile that can loiter in the sky before homing in on heat from the drones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2026
By modifying the CAR homing device to recognize markers found on brain tumors, astrocytes could potentially be redirected from clearing debris to directly destroying tumor cells.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 11, 2026
“Is your map glowing brighter? Maybe it works like a homing device...” said Mini, poking at the “sprig of youth” design on her wrist.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
