household
Americannoun
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households
plural
adjective
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of or relating to a household.
household furniture.
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for use in maintaining a home, especially for use in cooking, cleaning, laundering, repairing, etc., in the home.
a household bleach.
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common or usual; ordinary.
noun
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the people living together in one house collectively
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(modifier) of, relating to, or used in the running of a household; domestic
household management
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of household
First recorded in 1350–1400, household is from the Middle English word houshold. See house, hold 1
Explanation
How many people does your house hold? That’s your household! A household refers to a family or group of people living together. It’s a social unit under one roof. All the people living in your house, including servants, make up your household. Don’t have any servants? Well, your roommates count as part of your household, too. In the middle of the night, your household might be asleep. Your household income could determine whether or not you get the pool in the backyard. Household can also be an adjective to describe — you guessed it — things that are in your house, like household appliances or household furniture.
Vocabulary lists containing household
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:
The median household income in San José was $148,000.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
A study commissioned by the Five Borough Jobs Campaign, a coalition of economic development groups that has received funding from Amazon, estimated that the Delivery Protection Act would increase household costs by $664 a year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Families qualify if their household income is 300% or less of the local median.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
But you can still safely watch the spectacle using some household items.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Other games and puzzles entered the household, and the chess set, with some pawns missing, was stored in a closet.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Fuel oil, used by households for heating and in various industrial applications, was up 39.1 percent from the year before.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Only about 18% of households in Anaheim reached that status.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
The first locations where households living close to new upgraded electricity pylons and substations will receive a £250 year discount on their bills have been revealed.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Congress in 1996 formally codified a 35% limit on the share of U.S. households that a broadcast owner’s stations could collectively reach, which lawmakers in 2004 raised to 39%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
The group with homes, investments, and other assets worth more than $10 million comprised 338,400 households in 2001, the last year for which data are available.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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.
