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

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

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

"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

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

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

Mrs. Ann Cheatham, a housewife from England, had flown across the Atlantic just to take part in the last phase of the march.

From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman

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

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

Britain's first Winter Olympics gold in 18 years had been won by a group of Scottish housewives in an odd little sport.

From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026

Ohmae’s company even has contracts with more than seventy thousand housewives, some of them specialists in medical or legal terminologies, to do data-entry work at home.

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

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Related Words

• homemaker

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