home economics

American  

noun

1. the art and science of home management.

2. a college curriculum usually including studies in nutrition, the purchase, preparation, and service of food, interior design, clothing and textiles, child development, family relationships, and household economics.

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home economics British  

noun

1. (functioning as singular or plural) the study of diet, budgeting, child care, textiles, and other subjects concerned with running a home

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Other Word Forms

• home economist
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of home economics

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

home economics

And appliances that reduced some labor often raised the bar: more frequent washing, more cleaning, more elaborate meals, as University of Chicago home economics professor Hazel Kyrk described in “Economic Problems of the Family.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

She also organized the annual Lake Placid Conference from 1899 to 1908, which defined the field of home economics and framed domestic work as worthy of research and public funding.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026

For much of the 1900s, family and consumer sciences, more broadly known as home economics, were a staple of educational curricula in most American communities.

From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2026

His father was an art teacher, and his mother taught home economics, Ms. Kijner said.

From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 2024

There was the blow-up in home economics when Mrs. Anderson called her out for turning in a store-bought dress as her sewing project.

From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez

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