homesick
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- homesickness noun
Etymology
Origin of homesick
Explanation
When you're away from home and you miss it terribly, you're homesick. Most kids get homesick when they first go to summer camp. Everyone feels homesick sometimes, but it's probably most common for kids to get homesick when they're on their first sleepover or visiting their grandparents, or even when they leave for college as freshmen. There is a wistful yearning included in the idea of being homesick — a longing to be back where you started. Homesickness came first, from the German heimweh, "home woe" or "home pain."
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.
Even with all that milieu and surrounded by many of their countrymen, some Americans still get homesick.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 16, 2026
When I first made the big decision to leave behind my hometown suburb of Washington, D.C., and move to New York City, I never anticipated ever feeling homesick.
From Salon • Jan. 25, 2026
He was homesick, but he wanted her to know he was OK.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2025
"I was always homesick at the care home. I am so happy and thankful to be back."
From BBC • Sep. 12, 2025
Roy was feeling pretty homesick for Montana when he heard the approach of a siren outside.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
