homecoming
Americannoun
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homecomings
plural
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a return to one's home; arrival at home.
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an annual event held by a college, university, or high school for visiting alumni.
noun
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the act of coming home
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an annual celebration held by a university, college, or school, for former students
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of homecoming
First recorded in 1325–75; 1930–35 homecoming for def. 2; Middle English homcomyng; replacing Middle English hamcume, Old English hāmcyme, from hām home + cyme “arrival”; see come, -ing 1
Explanation
When someone returns home in a celebratory way — from war, college, or a long trip, for example — they have a homecoming. If your brother works at sea as a fisherman for several months each year, your whole family might gather for his homecoming. Your homecoming after your first year at college might be a bit of a letdown, if you're expected to find a summer job immediately. A soldier's homecoming is almost always a relief for his or her family. In high school or college, homecoming is a reunion that often centers around an autumn football game and a dance or party. In the U.S., this type of homecoming has been around since the 1930s.
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:
Players pray as they always have: for protection from injury, from the embarrassment of a missed tackle or muffed punt, to impress their homecoming date or to attract the attention of scouts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
And while the return to Cal will not be a homecoming for Bhaghani, a San Diego native, the game is important to him too.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Jones said filming the project, which wrapped earlier this year, had been "an emotional and spiritual homecoming".
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
His homecoming at the Stade de France in two months' time, against the Azzurri no less, is an ideal fixture to begin the new era.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The New York Times covered his exoneration and homecoming in a front-page story.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
All were embarking on the hardest of homecomings, beginning all over again - with almost nothing.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
Twenty captives were crossing over Israel’s border to jubilant homecomings, but Bipin wasn’t among them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
Her homecomings once brought the comfort of movie nights and card games, but this year was different.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
This probably wasn’t how Geno Smith and Jamal Adams envisioned their New York homecomings.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 3, 2023
Ben awoke and heard the unsteady voice of his father raised in a song that in the history of late-night homecomings was a traditional chant of warning.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
