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

Julianne Moore is a consensus pick for her careening high-wire act as an overlooked housewife discovering a life in the theater in “The Debut.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

“This particular division of private and public, housewife and breadwinner … was built on a flow of cheap fossil fuels and car culture,” she told The 19th.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

"Since yesterday we've been wondering what will become of our lives," 38-year-old housewife Gloria Giraldo, whose neighborhood had tumbled around her, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 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

Grace Windsor Wexler wrote housewife, crossed it out, wrote decorator, crossed it out, and wrote heiress.

From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin

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

“But I think my being in grief triggered the housewives, and it triggered the audience.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 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

Social media’s entire “tradwife” genre is about professional content creators pretending to be submissive housewives to sell advertising.

From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2025

And all the other housewives, when they saw it, admired it too, so that pretty soon everybody in Stillwater had two-colored kitchens.

From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater

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Related Words

• homemaker

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