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:
Vance has turned his marriage into a 21st century “Taming of the Shrew,” selling his audience the fantasy of taking a smart, accomplished career woman and reducing her to a submissive housewife.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 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
"I was supposed to go for a thyroid check-up in January," Vasile, a 56-year-old housewife, told AFP, saying she used the money instead for food and the electricity bill.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
"The loss of the leader is heavier than losing our parents," Hoda, a 35-year-old housewife, told AFP news agency.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
The only unusual thing was the great number of feathers this deft housewife had carelessly spilled over her kitchen floor.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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
At one point housewives were admonished not to shake their dust mops outdoors lest that contribute to smog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
Social media’s entire “tradwife” genre is about professional content creators pretending to be submissive housewives to sell advertising.
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2025
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.
