homey
1 Americanadjective
noun
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:
Airbnb gained popularity for offering travelers unique and homey stays on other people’s property, but it added boutique hotel bookings to its platform late last year.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
Repeat visitors like Sonny Baker, 53, of Boston, praised Horning for keeping the resort homey and the crowds a fraction of those elsewhere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 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
The room was comfortable in a homey way.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Knox Godoy He had the heritage going for him: Two badass dads and a badass crew of homeys in Baker 2G that seemed could only lead to an immediate pro model.
From Time Magazine Archive
I got fifteen or sixteen family members in Denver who owe Qwest money, doot-and I ain't even mentioned none of the homeys yet.
From Time Magazine Archive
I try to come to Colorado as much as I can just to visit fam and roll with the homeys 'n' junk.
From Time Magazine Archive
All my friends who skate in Brazil, all my homeys, they go to work and only skate on the weekends, so it was fun-they were just psyched for me.
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
I always talk about that especially with my artist homies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2025
“One of my homies said, ‘Hey fool, what are you doing here?’” he recalled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 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
Anita Herrera knows exactly what we all need: a carne asada with the homies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2023
I taught him everything he knows, then he up and flaked out on me, talking about college and turning his back on his homies.
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
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
"This is the homiest time I've had in England."
From The Beth Book Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius by Grand, Sarah
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.
