What does "house-sit" mean?

To live temporarily in someone else's home, or to attend it regularly, for the purpose of protecting and tending to it in the owner's or tenant's absence.

What is a synonym for "house-sit"?

Common synonyms include: home-sit.

House-sit

//ˈhaʊsˌsɪt// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1
To live temporarily in someone else's home, or to attend it regularly, for the purpose of protecting and tending to it in the owner's or tenant's absence. ambitransitive
"I'm house-sitting for my friends while they're on vacation in France."

Synonyms

All synonyms

home-sit

Example

More examples

"I'm house-sitting for my friends while they're on vacation in France."

Etymology

From house + sit, formed by analogy to babysit.

Related phrases

house-sitter

More for "house-sit"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.