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:
"Calgary, where I'm from, feels a little less like homey than LA," McRae said.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026
Inside the homey dining room and open kitchen, Cho blends the South Korean flavors of his birthplace with the European techniques he mastered as a chef in New York City.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 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
Across cities like New York and London, that tradition has evolved into a modern kind of “rustic luxe”: homey duck confit and steak au poivre served under soft lighting and mismatched furniture.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2025
“But I was really starting to get used to this place. Kinda homey, you know? We don’t have to leave, do we?”
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Can't dis the rockers 'cause they're my homeys.
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
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
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
Three of his skateboarding homeys were lined up beside him.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
“Was I supposed to call my homies like Sara Bareilles and say, ‘Hey, do you want to come play here?’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 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
Just three days prior, he had hosted a “barber battle” in Highland Park, with a crowd of stylists squaring off in a showdown that fellow homies raved about.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2023
She hoped that being far from his homies would put Nicholas on a straighter course.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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
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
In spite of poverty, anxiety, and fatigue, it was the "homiest time" she had had since Aunt Victoria's death, and she loved it.
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.
