housewife
Americannoun
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housewives
plural
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Sometimes Offensive. a married woman who manages her own household, especially as her principal occupation.
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British. a sewing box; a small case or box for needles, thread, etc.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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a woman, typically a married woman, who keeps house, usually without having paid employment
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Also called: hussy. huswife. a small sewing kit issued to soldiers
Sensitive Note
Most people, married or unmarried, find the term housewife perfectly acceptable. But it is sometimes perceived as insulting, perhaps because it implies a lowly status (“She’s just a housewife”) or because it defines an occupation in terms of a woman's relation to a man. Homemaker is a fairly common substitute.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of housewife
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English hus(e)wif; see origin at house, wife
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:
“This particular division of private and public, housewife and breadwinner … was built on a flow of cheap fossil fuels and car culture,” she told The 19th.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
And in an era where women were forced into gendered stereotypes – housewife, temptress, fallen woman, mixed-up girl – she satirised and sent up those roles, playing them to the hilt while emphasising her strength.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Hathaway can handle anything, from a despondent housewife to a rifle-toting badass, but I’ve never seen her tasked to do both in a film this brisk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
"Since yesterday we've been wondering what will become of our lives," 38-year-old housewife Gloria Giraldo, whose neighborhood had tumbled around her, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Then he went back to totaling an order for a gaunt housewife.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
But he is entitled to be a freeman of Llantrisant through his grandmother Gwen as he is "descended from coal miners from Senghenydd and housewives from Pontypridd", and is related to an existing freeman.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
German defence giant Rheinmetall on Sunday sought to smooth over a row caused by comments from its boss comparing Ukrainian factories producing drones to "housewives" making weapons in their kitchens.
From Barron's ● Mar. 29, 2026
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In nonprofit has shed about a quarter of its staff as the founder focuses the feminist organization on pushing back against the “tradwife” and manosphere movements that prioritize women’s roles as housewives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
The series was set to begin filming in the spring and follow Zarin and fellow housewives Kelly Bensimon, Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan in South Florida, according to Deadline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
He did odd jobs for housewives, ran errands for shopkeepers.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
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.
