What does "home" mean?
A dwelling.; One’s own dwelling place; the house or structure in which one lives; especially the house in which one lives with one's family; the habitual abode of one’s family.
Home
/hoʊm/ adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A dwelling.; One’s own dwelling place; the house or structure in which one lives; especially the house in which one lives with one's family; the habitual abode of one’s family.
- Grammar: home is listed as adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: abode, base, dwelling, house.
- Useful contrasts: away, End, abroad.
- Usage evidence: Professors should explain everything in detail, not be succinct and always tell students to go home and read their books.
How to use "home"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "home" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "home" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "home" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "home" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "home" is acting as adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abode" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "home", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A dwelling.; One’s own dwelling place; the house or structure in which one lives; especially the house in which one lives with one's family; the habitual abode of one’s family.
"And the diſciples went awaye agayne vnto their awne home."
- 2 A key that when pressed causes the cursor to go to the first character of the current line, or in a web browser to the top of the web page. uncountable
- 3 housing that someone is living in wordnet
- 4 A dwelling.; The place (residence, settlement, country, etc.), where a person was born or raised; childhood or parental home; home of one’s parents or guardian.
"The rights listed in the UNCRC cover all areas of children's lives such as their right to have a home and their right to be educated."
- 5 an institution where people are cared for wordnet
Show 20 more definitions
- 6 A dwelling.; The abiding place of the affections, especially of the domestic affections.
"He enter’d in the house—his home no more, / For without hearts there is no home;[…]"
- 7 (baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score wordnet
- 8 A dwelling.; A house that has been made home-like, to suit the comfort of those who live there.
"It's what you bring into a house that makes it a home"
- 9 a social unit living together wordnet
- 10 A dwelling.; A place of refuge, rest or care; an asylum.
"a home for outcasts"
- 11 the country or state or city where you live wordnet
- 12 A dwelling.; The grave; the final rest; also, the native and eternal dwelling place of the soul. broadly
"[…] because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: […]"
- 13 the place where you are stationed and from which missions start and end wordnet
- 14 A dwelling.; Anything that serves the functions of a home, as comfort, safety, sense of belonging, etc. broadly
"The rights of modern transsexual women and men to live in the sex that is "home"."
- 15 where you live at a particular time wordnet
- 16 One’s native land; the place or country in which one dwells; the place where one’s ancestors dwell or dwelt.
"Visiting these famous localities, and a great many others, I hope that I do not compromise my American patriotism by acknowledging that I was often conscious of a fervent hereditary attachment to the native soil of our forefathers, and felt it to be our own Old Home."
- 17 place where something began and flourished wordnet
- 18 The locality where a thing is usually found, or was first found, or where it is naturally abundant; habitat; seat.
"the home of the pine"
- 19 an environment offering affection and security wordnet
- 20 A focus point.; The ultimate point aimed at in a progress; the goal.
"The object of Sorry! is to get all four of your pawns to your home."
- 21 A focus point.; Home plate.
- 22 A focus point.; The place of a player in front of an opponent’s goal; also, the player.
- 23 A focus point.; The landing page of a website; the site's homepage. Internet
- 24 A focus point.; The chord at which a melody starts and to which it can resolve. informal
- 25 Clipping of home directory. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping
Verb
- 1 To return to its owner. intransitive
"The dog homed."
- 2 return home accurately from a long distance wordnet
- 3 provide with, or send to, a home wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Of, from, or pertaining to one’s dwelling or country; domestic; not foreign. not-comparable
"home manufactures"
- 2 That strikes home; direct, pointed. archaic, not-comparable
"a home truth"
- 3 Personal, intimate. not-comparable, obsolete
"I hardly knew what I answered him, but, by degrees I tranquillised, as I found he forbore distressing me any further, by such Home strokes […]."
- 4 Relating to the home team (the team at whose venue a game is played). not-comparable
"the home end, home advantage, home supporters"
Adjective
- 1 inside the country wordnet
- 2 used of your own ground wordnet
- 3 relating to or being where one lives or where one's roots are wordnet
Adverb
- 1 To one's home.; To one's place of residence or one's customary or official location. not-comparable
"go home"
- 2 To one's home.; To one's place of birth. not-comparable
- 3 To one's home.; To the place where it belongs; to the end of a course; to the full length. not-comparable
"She drove the nail home"
- 4 To one's home.; To the home page. Internet, not-comparable
"Click here to go home."
- 5 At or in one's place of residence or one's customary or official location; at home. not-comparable
"1975-1976, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure I'm certainly not the type to sit home waiting up for hubbie every night."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To a full and intimate degree; to the heart of the matter; fully, directly. not-comparable
"1625, Francis Bacon, dedication to the Duke of Buckingham, in Essays Civil and Moral, I do now publish my Essays; which of all my other works have been most current : for that, as it seems, they come home to men's business and bosoms."
- 7 into the goal UK, not-comparable
"2004, Tottenham 4-4 Leicester, BBC Sport: February, Walker was penalised for a picking up a Gerry Taggart backpass and from the resulting free-kick, Keane fired home after Johnnie Jackson's initial effort was blocked."
- 8 into the right, proper or stowed position not-comparable
"sails sheeted home"
Adverb
- 1 at or to or in the direction of one's home or family wordnet
- 2 to the fullest extent; to the heart wordnet
- 3 on or to the point aimed at wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A habitational surname from Old English.
- 2 A number of places in the United States, all apparently meaning home, a place to live:; An unincorporated community in Franklin Township, Marshall County, Kansas.
- 3 A number of places in the United States, all apparently meaning home, a place to live:; An unincorporated community in Rayne Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.
- 4 A number of places in the United States, all apparently meaning home, a place to live:; A census-designated place in Pierce County, Washington.
- 5 A number of places in the United States, all apparently meaning home, a place to live:; An unincorporated community in Braxton County, West Virginia.
Antonyms
Example
"Professors should explain everything in detail, not be succinct and always tell students to go home and read their books."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "home"?
Common synonyms include: abode, base, dwelling, house, household, a better place.
How do you use "home" in a sentence?
Professors should explain everything in detail, not be succinct and always tell students to go home and read their books.
How do you pronounce "home"?
Pronounced /hoʊm/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-. Doublet of heyem. Cognates Cognate with Scots hame (“home”), Yola haime, hime, hyme (“home”), Saterland Frisian Heem (“home”), Alemannic German haim, hei, heim, hemmu (“home”), Bavarian hama, hame (“home”), Cimbrian hòam, huam (“home”), Dutch heem, heim (“home”), German Heim (“home”), Limburgish heim, Héïm (“home”), Luxembourgish Heem (“home”), Mòcheno hoa'm (“home”), Vilamovian ham, hām, haom (“home”), Yiddish היים (heym, “home”), Danish hjem (“home”), Faroese, Icelandic heim (“home”), heimur (“world”), Norwegian Bokmål heim, hjem (“home”), Norwegian Nynorsk heim (“home”), Swedish hem (“home”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌼𐍃 (haims, “village”), Irish caoimh (“dear”), Lithuanian kaimas (“village”), šeima (“family”), Albanian komb (“nation, people”), Old Church Slavonic сѣмь (sěmĭ, “seed”), Ancient Greek κώμη (kṓmē, “village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (kittari, “it lies”), Ancient Greek κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie down”), Latin civis (“citizen”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬈 (saēte, “he lies, rests”), Sanskrit शये (śáye, “he lies”)).
Etymology 2
From home.