housewife

[ hous-wahyf or, usually, huhz-if for 2 ]
See synonyms for: housewifehousewives on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural house·wives [hous-wahyvz]. /ˈhaʊsˌwaɪvz/.
  1. Sometimes Offensive. a married woman who manages her own household, especially as her principal occupation.

  2. British. a sewing box; a small case or box for needles, thread, etc.

verb (used with or without object),house·wifed, house·wif·ing.
  1. Archaic. to manage with efficiency and economy, as a household.

Origin of housewife

1
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English hus(e)wif; see origin at house, wife

usage note For housewife

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.

Words Nearby housewife

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use housewife in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for housewife

housewife

/ (ˈhaʊsˌwaɪf) /


nounplural -wives
  1. a woman, typically a married woman, who keeps house, usually without having paid employment

  2. Also called: hussy, huswife (ˈhʌzɪf) mainly British a small sewing kit issued to soldiers

Derived forms of housewife

  • housewifery (ˈhaʊsˌwɪfərɪ, -ˌwɪfrɪ), noun

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