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.
Marriage changes inheritance rights in many states, and some states have homestead laws providing equity protection for the less wealthy partner.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
The standard homestead exemption knocks $2,000 off the assessed value of all primary residences.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026
The Carney homestead, located in the townland of Ayle, was a standard rural dwelling of the time: a thatched cottage with two windows in the front.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
This is the stage set for the release of Caro Claire Burke’s debut novel “Yesteryear,” a satirical thriller in which Christian tradwife influencer Natalie awakes in an 1855 homestead with no explanation and no escape.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
As I got closer, I could see that three old homestead shacks had been fitted together to make the oddest-shaped house I’d ever seen.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Consider a historic footnote from World War II. Shortly after Pearl Harbor in 1941, all the Germans and Japanese in their embassies in Washington were sent under guard to the luxurious Greenbrier and Homestead resorts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 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
Thomas watched as the bully disappeared back into the Homestead.
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
Years ago, I made a white-knuckled jet-boat trip deep into the Idaho backcountry, where a trail of blossoming lilacs marked former homesteads along the Salmon River.
From Seattle Times ● May 4, 2024
And because of their ability to do that, it enabled humans to sort of stay in one place, not be so nomadic, to build farms and homesteads.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2024
The subdivisions proud residents seeded their lawns and planted trees for shade, hosting patio parties and many a club meeting at their homesteads.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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.
