- a variation of homie.
homey
1 Americanadjective
noun
-
homeys,
plural
-
homies
plural
adjective
noun
Usage
What does homey mean? Homey is used to describe a place as cozy, comfortable, and inviting. It’s often used to describe a home that feels this way. You might discuss ways of making your place (or a particular room in it) more homey, typically by decorating it in a way that makes it cozier or more comfortable. Homey can also be used to describe a place that’s not a home but that’s comfortable and inviting like your own home, such as a hotel room, cozy restaurant, or nicely decorated office. Example: The new fireplace makes the living room feel so homey. Unrelatedly, homey is an alternative spelling of the noun homie, which is a slang term for a close friend. It can be used to refer to a friend, as in This is my homey Russel, or as a term of address for one, as in Hey, homey!Example: I’m having a night out with just me and my homeys.
Synonym Usage
See homely.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of homey1
First recorded in 1850–55; home + -y 1
Origin of homey2
First recorded in 1990–95
Vocabulary lists containing homey
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:
He and his wife gave everything they had to build a community around delicious food and homey vibes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
"Calgary, where I'm from, feels a little less like homey than LA," McRae said.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026
Her choice of homey subjects, unusual angles, or surprising vantage points adds to the tug, and her use of black outlines, for emphasis, helps sustain it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
I believe that companies should focus on how to make the workplace more comfortable, even homey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
There was something comforting and homey in the scent of damp wood and livestock.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
And I talk to the other homeys, too-when I see them.
From Time Magazine Archive
Can't dis the rockers 'cause they're my homeys.
From Time Magazine Archive
Riders usually schralp with the same group and coach all year, meaning the clocking of lots of good homeys and good times by closing day.
From Time Magazine Archive
If the world ended tomorrow, what would you do today: Skate with the homeys.
From Time Magazine Archive
What I got is right now, right here, spending time with my homeys.
From "Bronx Masquerade" by Nikki Grimes
Took pictures of the homies with a school camera.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
We did every major event here, prom, homecoming, all the homies would come here and take photos across the different points of the house.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
UAW counsel Benjamin Dictor on Sunday morning posted on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter: "All my homies hate companies that won't agree to fair contracts for their workers."
From Reuters ● Oct. 29, 2023
It’s a place where I run into a bunch of my homies all the time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
Still, we’re just two homies from the hood getting to know each other.
From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi
Battery-operated wall sconces, she says, are another inexpensive addition that can make an apartment feel homier.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026
Knowing that the cake everyone in film and TV craves to receive from Cruise is a Bundt, one of the simpler, homier goodies of the baking world, adds to its mystery.
From Salon ● May 7, 2024
These colors work especially well in large, cavernous rooms and spaces in which the goal is to make a space feel less cavernous and homier and more comfortable.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 30, 2024
The softer light makes even the sparest of holiday décor feel homier.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 6, 2023
This Motel 6 is in the latter category, which makes it homier, you might say, or maybe only more haunted.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
And homiest of all is the shop’s impressive, one might even say fanatical, collection of those aforementioned typewriters.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023
The homiest of the lot are “Northwest,” an ode to the PNW, and a loving number about Clark’s grandmother titled “She Smoked in the House.”
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2023
Dasani’s housefather tries to soften the landing by making his homiest dish — lasagna.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2021
In a trolley car that is rumored to have driven the capital’s streets between 1894 and 1912, Luxury Diner serves the city’s heartiest and homiest breakfast and lunch.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 10, 2019
"It is still just the loveliest, homiest place in the world!"
From The Ranch Girls and Their Great Adventure by Margaret Vandercook
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.
