domicile

American  

[dom-uh-sahyl, -suhl, doh-muh-] / ˈdɒm əˌsaɪl, -səl, ˈdoʊ mə- /

Or domicil

noun

• domiciles
  plural

1. a place of residence; house or home; abode.

2. Law. a permanent legal residence.

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verb (used with object)

domiciled, domiciling

1. to establish in a domicile.

domicile British  

/ ˈdɒmɪˌsaɪl, ˈdɒmɪˌsɪl /

noun

1. a dwelling place

2. a permanent legal residence

3. commerce the place where a bill of exchange is to be paid

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verb

1. to establish or be established in a dwelling place

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• undomiciled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• domiciles
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of domicile

First recorded in 1470–80; from Middle French, from Latin domicilium, equivalent to domicol(a) ( domi-, combining form of domus “house” + -cola “dweller”; see colonus) + -ium -ium

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Explanation

Domicile is a fancy word for the place where you live. Whether it's a mansion on 5th Avenue or a one-room shack in the desert, if you live in it, it's your domicile. If you live somewhere — such as in a house, on a houseboat, or in an apartment — then you have a domicile, or simply, housing. In the eyes of the law, your domicile is your legal place of residence. You can turn domicile into a verb, and say that you are currently domiciled in the Caribbean — but you'd probably only use that terminology if you were on trial for something like tax evasion.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

domicile domiciles domiciled domiciling

“Establish Florida domicile first, cleanly and provably. Then time the big withdrawals for after that’s done. The home sale and the distribution strategy aren’t two decisions — they’re one decision with two moving parts.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026

The judge concluded that “ultimately, the most persuasive evidence demonstrating Anderson’s domicile is where he chose to spend his most valuable and limited resource: his time.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

The majority opinion roundly rejected Alito and Thomas’ arguments about domicile.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

“Of course, domicile was relevant to naturalization and expatriation. But that by no means suggests it was a prerequisite to national citizenship at birth,” Roberts wrote.

From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026

From the humble beginnings of the storefront on Hart Street, to the respectable but by no means splashy domicile off Beniteau, Assumption was finally going to get a grand church building.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

His co-author and Wharton economics colleague Kent Smetters says tools such as Zoom make it easier than before to move domiciles and avoid a state or local wealth tax.

From Barron's ● Jan. 3, 2026

The impressive exhibit features shells the size of small dogs, adult hand-sized sand dollars, giant horseshoe crab domiciles, column-like shells, leather corals, square sea stars and other curiosities among thousands.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2023

Trump has a taste for gilding everything from domiciles to escalators.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2022

Spottiswoode has a good reason for poking around avian domiciles.

From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2022

Fact: Many of the domiciles in Century Village do not have family rooms with desks.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

Thomas read into that the requirement that their parents be domiciled here.

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026

“Where you’re domiciled on Dec. 31 can determine which state taxes your entire retirement income for that year,” said Jeff Judge, a certified financial planner and managing partner at Chesapeake Financial Planners.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026

Black people who were enslaved were undoubtedly domiciled here, but the same is not true of temporary visitors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

“If Congress intended to limit American citizenship to the children of those domiciled in the United States, nothing in the succinct language of the Citizenship Clause conveyed that design,” Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

Rights and Duties of Aliens.—Aliens, though in a political sense members of foreign states, are, nevertheless, fully subject to the jurisdiction of the state in which they are domiciled, and owe it a temporary allegiance.

From Government in the United States National, State and Local by James Wilford Garner

The benefits of domiciling in the U.S. rarely outweighed the risks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026

Many asset managers enjoy lower tax rates by domiciling funds in countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg.

From Reuters ● Jun. 2, 2021

That would be like domiciling at an EconoLodge.

From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2013

But his surveys of Manhattan subways, sewage, traffic and domiciling reveal conditions so overwhelmingly horrible that even Dreamer Strauss loses heart.

From Time Magazine Archive

Even those whose passion for the races is well developed will easily find a method of being present at the Grand Prix without domiciling themselves among us.

From Paris from the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Volume 1 by William Walton

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