Staycation

//steɪˈkeɪʃn̩// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A vacation spent at or close to home. informal

    "Increasing product lifespans and decreased energy use may also enable both efficiency and sufficiency [...]. This includes means by which materials are used more productively (i.e. the same quantity providing a longer service) and throughput is slowed (i.e. products are replaced less frequently, plus, in the case of tourism, distance of travel is less – the so-called ‘staycation’ approach)."

  2. 2
    A vacation spent at or close to home.; A vacation spent at one's own home without other overnight accommodation. informal

    "If you're feeling the pinch of high gas prices and job woes, try a "Staycation", the new industry term for staying at home and enjoying yourself."

  3. 3
    A vacation spent at or close to home.; A holiday spent in one's own country without travelling abroad. British, Ireland, informal

    "It's holiday time again. Having invented the staycation – no, I don't like the word either – four years ago when we ran out of money and out of patience with French traffic, we are sticking to principle and, as we did four months ago, hanging out at Tom Hodgkinson's gaff in north Devon."

Verb
  1. 1
    To spend a vacation at or close to home. informal, intransitive

    "They may fill some of the airline seats and hotel rooms left vacant by staycationing locals."

  2. 2
    To spend a vacation at or close to home.; To take a holiday in one's own country as opposed to travelling abroad. British, Ireland, informal, intransitive

    "[...] I staycationed there this summer, enjoying the ancient town of Sandbach with Saxon crosses in its cobbled square; [...]"

  3. 3
    To spend a vacation at or close to home.; To spend a vacation at one's own home without other overnight accommodation. US, informal, intransitive

    "Plan a staycation: Enjoy your own house, your own backyard, your own town. [...] This was the third summer the Wyatts and their two children have staycationed in Virginia Beach."

Example

More examples

"I'm thinking about taking a staycation."

Etymology

The noun is a blend of stay (at home) + vacation. The verb is derived from the noun.

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