household
Americannoun
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:
The word “skyscraper” came into usage around 1891, and Carnegie, Frick, Phipps and Schwab were soon household names.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
"I had the privilege of representing Vinny for more than 30 years, long before 'The Sopranos' made him a household name," Attermann said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
The tax returns showed the family paid from $154,000 to almost $200,000 each year for household employees from 2021 through 2024.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
He says that median local household income was $75,000 in 2024, up by a quarter from $59,555 in 2010.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Their home destroyed, the Baudelaires had to recuperate from their terrible loss in the Poe household, which was not at all agreeable.
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
It says the tax would affect 1,000 households and raise £10bn a year.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
One big challenge for households is the race between their spending and their income.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
Power cuts were mostly resolved, but 59,000 households still had no water.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
“We have a huge responsibility to stabilize the households, businesses, and the communities within the impacted area, accelerate remediation and restore infrastructure.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Although Jack’s parents had both grown up in religious Jewish households, they did not go to weekly services.
From "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps" by Andrea Warren
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.
