houseplant
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of houseplant
Explanation
A houseplant is a green, living thing you keep indoors. Your Boston fern, giant ficus, and Christmas cactus are all houseplants. If there are plants inside your house, they're houseplants, though you could also call them "potted plants" or "indoor plants." Most houseplants are tropical or semitropical, and if you live somewhere that gets colder during the winter, they need to be inside where it's warm. During the summer, some houseplants thrive on the patio or in the yard, but you'll need to bring them back into your house when the nights get cool.
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.
It is also a popular houseplant often given as a gift.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026
Right now, however, it’s been more like a shriveled-up houseplant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2025
Students at Glasgow university can attend houseplant sales and a charity shop crawl during their "Welcome Week" while Edinburgh is hosting a video games night and an anxiety management workshop.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2024
Where, then, should one dispose of the holiday houseplant?
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 28, 2023
That was pretty powerful for someone who couldn't even keep a houseplant alive.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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.
