household
Americannoun
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households
plural
adjective
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of or relating to a household.
household furniture.
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for use in maintaining a home, especially for use in cooking, cleaning, laundering, repairing, etc., in the home.
a household bleach.
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common or usual; ordinary.
noun
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the people living together in one house collectively
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(modifier) of, relating to, or used in the running of a household; domestic
household management
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of household
First recorded in 1350–1400, household is from the Middle English word houshold. See house, hold 1
Explanation
How many people does your house hold? That’s your household! A household refers to a family or group of people living together. It’s a social unit under one roof. All the people living in your house, including servants, make up your household. Don’t have any servants? Well, your roommates count as part of your household, too. In the middle of the night, your household might be asleep. Your household income could determine whether or not you get the pool in the backyard. Household can also be an adjective to describe — you guessed it — things that are in your house, like household appliances or household furniture.
Vocabulary lists containing household
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:
Coplan’s push to make Polymarket a household name led to expensive deals with A-list celebrities and sports stars, including LeBron James and a $300 million deal with Major League Baseball.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Acetone is useful in an experiment, but its flammability and strong odor make it poorly suited to routine household treatment.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
"Families with incomes coming into the household are still not able pay for food and things like that, so we're seeing a lot families coming to us and asking for help."
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
It wasn’t until after he committed to USC that Luke became a household name as a prospect, breaking through with a 23-sack senior campaign.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
But Penelope had no friends in the Babushkinov household.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Mac Cionnaith added that signatures are being collected from households from around the area in support of preventing the parade.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Lineage worked with neighbors affected by the blaze, interacting with almost all of the hundreds of directly impacted households, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Those low-income households that began renting in 1984 and then bought a house saw their wealth go up on average compared with the low-income households that remained renters.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Upper-income households posted gains while lower-income households didn’t, reflecting a growing divide where high earners are doing most of the spending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
They are very interested in how other households are run; such bits of petty gossip give them an opportunity for pride or discontent.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
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.
