household word

noun

1. a familiar name, phrase, saying, etc.; byword.

   The advertising campaign is designed to make this new product a household word.

Word History and Origins

Origin of household word¹

First recorded in 1590–1600

Example Sentences

To inflict these delusional internet memes and outright fabrications on the elected leader of the nation that made “apartheid” a household word goes light-years beyond historical irony — it’s like an Upright Citizens Brigade comedy sketch that was rejected as overly cynical.

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They began spot-spraying with a pesticide called malathion, which was about to become a household word.

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Dan Fisher in 1988 was one of the first to make “intifada” a household word in America and the English-speaking world.

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“To keep every employee busy, to pay them and to turn a profit, Jay Hormel believed a stellar product was needed that would become a household word,” according to a Hormel history book released in 1991 to commemorate the company’s centennial.

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Education funding rates for incarcerated students were set in 1995, when Microsoft was barely a household word.

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