homeland

American  

[hohm-land, -luhnd] / ˈhoʊmˌlænd, -lənd /

noun

• homelands
  plural

1. one's native land.

2. a region created or considered as a state by or for a people of a particular ethnic origin.

   the Palestinian homeland.

3. any of the thirteen racially and ethnically based regions created in South Africa by the South African government as nominally independent tribal ministates to which Black people were formerly assigned.

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homeland British  

/ ˈhəʊmˌlænd /

noun

1. the country in which one lives or was born

2. the official name for a Bantustan

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• homelands
  plural

Etymology

Origin of homeland

First recorded in 1660–70; home + land

Explanation

A homeland is the country where a group originally comes from, or where a person was born. If your grandparents and great-grandparents are Greek, you might consider Greece your homeland. If you were born in Iran and raised in Canada, it might be important to you to think of Iran as your homeland, or the place you and your ancestors come from. In addition to being your birthplace, your homeland holds a lot of your cultural identity. Sometimes homeland is used in a nationalistic or even racist way, emphasizing that only certain ethnic groups are "native" to a certain country. The Old English root, hamland simply meant "enclosed pasture."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

homeland homelands

The pictograms in the Codex Boturini narrate the story of the migration of the Aztecs, also known as Mexica, from their ancestral homeland to the shores of Lake Texcoco, where they built Tenochtitlán.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

Rhys didn’t react like his characters might have — instead, he thanked his homeland: “To the great and good people of Wales… we are a small but mighty nation!”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

The museum has now announced that a formal decision has been made by the University of Oxford Council to return the 39 ancestral human remains to their homeland.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

The A-list celebrity couple is now settling in back in Harry's homeland, six years after they stepped down as working royals and left for the United States amid bitter acrimony with his family.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

There was all the joy and excitement of seeing their own homeland again, and soon their friends, their home and possessions—and above all they could not wait to see their pets.

From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford

“We must remember them. It is their homelands, their well-being and their futures that are also at stake under the guise of ensuring compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

While this system works like crazy for rappers in France or Brazil, who are now all over the charts in their homelands, it potentially hampers artists in the U.K.,

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026

It’s one of the reasons we’re unwilling to hand over detailed maps of our homelands and cultural sites to anyone, let alone a foreign government.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025

President David Adeang also floated the possibility of sending the immigrants -- some of whom advocacy groups say are refugees -- back to their homelands.

From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025

I belong in my homelands, with my loved ones.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day

Related Words

• motherland