a dwelling with its land and buildings, occupied by the owner as a home and exempted by a homestead law from seizure or sale for debt.
any dwelling with its land and buildings where a family makes its home.
a tract of land acquired under the Homestead Act.
a house in an urban area acquired under a homesteading program.
a house or estate and the adjoining land, buildings, etc, esp a farm
(in the US) a house and adjoining land designated by the owner as his fixed residence and exempt under the homestead laws from seizure and forced sale for debts
(in western Canada) a piece of land, usually 160 acres, granted to a settler by the federal government
the owner's or manager's residence on a sheep or cattle station; in New Zealand the term includes all outbuildings
First recorded before 1000; Old English hāmstede; equivalent to home + stead
A homestead is a house and surrounding land owned by a family — often, it includes a farmhouse. Most people have homes, but not everyone has a homestead: that means your family owns more than a house. The homestead often consists of a farmhouse and land devoted to crops or animals. You'll find a lot more homesteads in rural areas than in cities. Often, a homestead is passed down from parents to children for generations.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Weidenmuller’s legal team stated that the star has a $13.3 million mortgage lien on the property and a “$722,151 homestead exemption—together just under $14 million.”
From MarketWatch • Dec. 1, 2025
In the 1970s, when Bunker moved to Maine, he canvassed old-timers for the names of the apples growing near his Palermo homestead.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025
The same ancestor who founded this homestead left his own family behind in Georgia; that cold resolve is Hailey’s inheritance too.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2025
Part of these traditions involved refurbishing his "simba" - or bachelor's pad within his father's homestead - into a home suitable for the couple and their three-year-old son George.
From BBC • Jun. 17, 2025
I’m afraid I will have to rely on that painful teacher, Experience, until I get my homestead legs.
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.
