HOUSEHOLD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does household mean? 

• HOUSEHOLD (noun)
  The noun HOUSEHOLD has 1 sense:

1. a social unit living together

  Familiarity information: HOUSEHOLD used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOUSEHOLD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A social unit living together

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

family; home; house; household; menage

Context example:

the family refused to accept his will

Hypernyms ("household" is a kind of...):

social unit; unit (an organization regarded as part of a larger social group)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "household"):

broken home (a family in which the parents have separated or divorced)

conjugal family; nuclear family (a family consisting of parents and their children and grandparents of a marital partner)

extended family (a family consisting of the nuclear family and their blood relatives)

foster family (the family of a fosterling)

foster home (a household in which an orphaned or delinquent child is placed (usually by a social-service agency))

menage a trois (household for three; an arrangement where a married couple and a lover of one of them live together while sharing sexual relations)

Derivation:

householder (someone who owns a home)

 Context examples 

And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this advertisement had upon your fortunes.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Many U.S. households have guns, but they can cause harm if not handled properly.

(Gun Safety, NIH)

My household work is done, so I shall take his foreign journal, and lock myself up in my room and read it....

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

All household members and other close contacts should be checked.

(Head Lice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

I don't know how the household furniture came to be sold for the family benefit, or who sold it, except that I did not.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Outside the household there was even more for White Fang to learn.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Homes were visited annually to collect household dust samples from the living room and child’s bedroom.

(Infant Exposure to Allergens May Help Prevent Wheezing, NIH)

A household activity that must be done regularly as a duty.

(Chore, NCI Thesaurus)

I would warn your Grace, however, that the continued presence of Mr. James Wilder in your household can only lead to misfortune.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My mistress was gone about her household affairs, and had locked me in.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)