housewife

American  

[haus-wahyf, huhz-if] / ˈhaʊsˌwaɪf, ˈhʌz ɪf /

noun

• housewives
  plural

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.

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verb (used with or without object)

housewifed, housewifing

1. Archaic. to manage with efficiency and economy, as a household.

housewife British  

/ ˈhaʊsˌwaɪf /

noun

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

2. Also called: hussy, huswife. a small sewing kit issued to soldiers

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Sensitivity

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

• housewifery
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• housewives
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of housewife

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

housewife housewives

Among them is 56-year-old housewife Aytac Yakar who was forced to flee her home village of Isikdere when it was swallowed up by a mine in 2018.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

To wit: Sexton received 3,000 emails from a Kansas housewife obsessed with clearing the name of Dana Chandler, who had been convicted of murdering her ex-husband and his girlfriend.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

This is how the happy housewife became part of our cultural landscape.

From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026

But housewife Nelly Vega believes Fujimori "is going to lead us to something better."

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

“I’d never been in a factory before, but the crisis made you think,” a British housewife, Mrs. M. Hall, remembered.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

Steinem spoke explicitly about pushing the women’s movement beyond its initial concerns—essentially, the benumbed, unfulfilled flourishing of white middle-class housewives like her own mother.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Tradwife content whitewashes history, but an honest look shows that contempt for housewives was a widespread theme in the past.

From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2026

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

The series was set to begin filming in the spring and follow Zarin and fellow housewives Kelly Bensimon, Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan in South Florida, according to Deadline.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026

I had heard that JetBlue had outsourced its entire reservation system to housewives in Utah, and I wanted to check this out.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

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Related Words

• homemaker

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