homelessness
Americannoun
-
lack of permanent housing, especially this condition generally as a matter of public concern.
The city partners with community groups to offer resources for youth experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
-
lack of a feeling of belonging; rootlessness or restlessness.
He writes about a feeling of homelessness after immigration, when he felt neither firmly bound to his native culture nor fully adapted to the new one.
Sensitive Note
See homeless ( def. ).
Etymology
Origin of homelessness
First recorded in 1810–20; homeless ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )
Explanation
Homelessness is a situation in which people don't have a place to live. A family experiencing homelessness might need to temporarily stay in a city shelter or with a relative. Homelessness is a state of being without a home. The word usually describes the circumstances of people who have fallen on hard times and don't have the money or ability to acquire a safe, stable place to live. Homelessness is a widespread problem across the U.S., with causes that include poverty, addiction, domestic violence, low wages, and lack of affordable housing.
Vocabulary lists containing homelessness
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.
Burnham has also pledged to make life more affordable amidst the UK's cost-of-living crisis, including by building more social housing, reducing homelessness, and easing financial pressures on small businesses.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Burnham visited homelessness charity The Passage in Victoria, London, hours before he made his first speech in Downing Street.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
She was recently a managing editor of the Yale Daily News, where she previously covered local housing and homelessness and designed the print edition of the newspaper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
It won’t alleviate homelessness or the housing shortage for people at the lowest incomes, he said.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
The dismissed men, Burnham knew, faced homelessness and poverty; their families confronted the real prospect of starvation.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
