homecoming
Americannoun
-
homecomings
plural
-
a return to one's home; arrival at home.
-
an annual event held by a college, university, or high school for visiting alumni.
noun
-
the act of coming home
-
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:
"The homecoming piece is very important to him," Alvarado said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
Both schools will have their halftime homecoming, their school bands performing and lots of alumni in attendance, so throw out the records and prepare for the idea that anything could happen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Sam Fender has rescheduled the pre-sale for his tour's homecoming show after a "sophisticated bot attack" reportedly affected a ticketing website.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
Set in 1949, the movie follows the Nobel-winning novelist Thomas Mann and his daughter, Erika, on an ambivalent homecoming to Germany, the country he left for the U.S. in 1933.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
The play she had written for Leon’s homecoming was her first excursion into drama, and she had found the transition quite effortless.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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
In cities, towns and villages across Ukraine, bleak homecomings for the dead are a ritual as old as war.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2023
He wrote letters from New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago full of promises of homecomings, but there was obviously something wrong.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
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.
