household

[ hous-hohld, -ohld ]

noun

1. the people of a house collectively; a family including its servants.

adjective

1. of or relating to a household:

   household furniture.

2. for use in maintaining a home, especially for use in cooking, cleaning, laundering, repairing, etc., in the home:

   a household bleach.

3. common or usual; ordinary.

household

/ ˈhaʊsˌhəʊld /

noun

1. the people living together in one house collectively
2. modifier of, relating to, or used in the running of a household; domestic

   household management

Word History and Origins

Origin of household¹

First recorded in 1350–1400, household is from the Middle English word houshold. See house, hold ¹

Example Sentences

Authorities in Finland are investigating a broken fibre-optic cable after two separate cuts caused an outage affecting thousands of households.

From BBC

Remembering his "perfect daughter" who is now a household name, Mr Cecchettin said he thought there would be a "before" and an "after" Giulia's murder.

From BBC

This is higher than the 69% figure reported for ordinary households in Afghanistan.

From Salon

Batteries thrown into household waste cause hundreds of fires in bin lorries and waste-processing centres every year.

From BBC

This restraint would protect households from large tax increases, prevent economic harm and ease relations with our major trading partners.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• family
• home
• house