homesteading
Americannoun
-
an act or instance of establishing a homestead.
-
Also called urban homesteading, homesteading program. a federal program to improve deteriorating urban areas by offering abandoned or foreclosed houses to persons who agree to repair them and live in them for a specified number of years.
noun
Etymology
Origin of homesteading
First recorded in 1890–95, for earlier sense “homestead”; homestead + -ing 1
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.
“We were basically homesteading the first 12 years. For the longest time, we didn’t have plumbing. We were using outhouses and washing dishes in the lake,” he admitted.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
With an eye for eerie detail, Burke balances the tightly-wound mystery with cinematic descriptions of homesteading life and the occasional moment of beauty as Natalie’s resistance is tested.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
Nead: If you think about someone like Bekah Martinez, a former contestant, she does more homesteading content now, and she’s so real and raw.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
They are quietly managing empires and businesses of their own while telegraphing homesteading realness, shielding their own version of a “girlboss” reality.
From Slate ● Dec. 2, 2024
I’d rather read the railroad pamphlets, which make homesteading sound as easy as rubbing a magic lamp.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby 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.
