- 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:
In the homey second movement, he carefully lays down his cello, picks up a music box and sits at the foot of the podium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
"Calgary, where I'm from, feels a little less like homey than LA," McRae said.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 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
Do they matter, these domestic rituals, these little homey things?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
There was a vague smile on the broad mouth and in the lines of the closed eyelids that made the frog appear to be meditating on a homey universe.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
The doc has serious street cred when homeys start naming their mini shreds after him-yeah, you heard, people are naming their li'l ones Marco.
From Time Magazine Archive
Was it weird to go back and see your old homeys in Brazil after skating in Cali for a while?
From Time Magazine Archive
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
My moms don’t want to hear that, but if it weren’t for Wesley and my other homeys, I wouldn’t even be here, aiight?
From "Bronx Masquerade" by Nikki Grimes
“One of my homies said, ‘Hey fool, what are you doing here?’” he recalled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2025
A lot of homies and family growing up, they kind of loosely use that term for stuff that’s really not that crazy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
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
He’s escorted to a cordoned-off section of the room, which is kind of confounding since the 75 or so people in attendance are either his colleagues or homies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2023
My homies all laughed to see me out there.
From "Seedfolks" by Paul Fleischman
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
The softer light makes even the sparest of holiday décor feel homier.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 6, 2023
The announcement shines a brighter spotlight on Biden’s Wilmington house, where he regularly spends the weekends and where he finds more freedom and a homier atmosphere than at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 12, 2023
In time the place was homier than his own room at the Y. “How ’bout a corn muffin?” said Grayson, choosing something easy on his bad teeth and aching gums.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
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
I love oranges and ripe figs, and those big persimmons that you sort of drown in-but apples are homiest.
From Across the Fruited Plain by Means, Florence Crannell
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.
