homestead
noun
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.
homestead
1 American
[hohm-sted, -stid]
/ ˈhoʊm stɛd, -stɪd /
noun
-
homesteads
plural
-
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.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
Homestead
2
American
[hohm-sted, -stid]
/ ˈhoʊm stɛd, -stɪd /
noun
homestead
British
/ ˈhəʊmˌstɛd, -stɪd /
noun
-
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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of homestead
First recorded before 1000; Old English hāmstede; equivalent to home + stead
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing homestead
There's No Word Like Home
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Life Is So Good
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Purple Hibiscus
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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 exemption only applies to Florida residents who are permanent and who have applied for what’s called the homestead exemption, and would only count toward non-school taxes.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
Florida homeowners who have applied for the homestead exemption can estimate how much they would save under Amendment 3 on this website created by the state.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
Periodically, the soft-spoken and generous man flies his Cessna into town to scavenge soda pop for a dozen or so cherubic Mennonite children on a nearby homestead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Gracie said one of her earliest “Little House” memories is visiting the family homestead in De Smet, S.D., when she was about 5 years old, and the two have attended several cast reunions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
We passed through homestead and swamp, traversing a distance of perhaps ten miles in all.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Even as the Homestead Act gave abundant land to former slaves in Nicodemus, Kan., the city was bypassed by the railroad, limiting the largely black settlement’s economic growth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
As a high school student in San José, Chavez-Garcia knew none of this history — “we learned more about the Homestead Act in the Midwest,” she joked.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2025
The uprooting of prairies across the Great Plains and the Dust Bowl could not have occurred without the massive settler movement triggered by the Homestead Act of 1862.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2025
Sylvester Fernandez, 73, planned to wait out the hurricane at his home in Homestead near Miami, but early Wednesday was woken by the sound of a warning on his phone.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2024
When Newt came out of the Homestead he knew that the time for rest was over.
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
Neighbors judge one another for selling off family homesteads to developers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Thousands of feet below, a smattering of old homesteads spread out like playing cards on a poker table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2025
Organizations like the Cultural Burn Association have been working with landowners to set portions of farms and homesteads alight.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2024
Staff from the agency’s Chicago office planned to survey storm damage Wednesday in the Gibson City area, where at least two homesteads suffered damage and power lines were knocked down.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 4, 2023
The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many orchards, and homesteads there were with oast and garner, fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green from the highlands down to Anduin.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
