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View synonyms for housewife

housewife

[ hous-wahyfor, usually, huhz-if ]

noun

, plural house·wives [hous, -wahyvz].
  1. Sometimes Offensive. a married woman who manages her own household, especially as her principal occupation.
  2. British. a sewing box; a small case or box for needles, thread, etc.


verb (used with or without object)

, house·wifed, house·wif·ing.
  1. Archaic. to manage with efficiency and economy, as a household.

housewife

/ ˈhaʊsˌwɪfərɪ; -ˌwɪfrɪ; ˈhaʊsˌwaɪf /

noun

  1. a woman, typically a married woman, who keeps house, usually without having paid employment
  2. Also calledhussyhuswifeˈhʌzɪf a small sewing kit issued to soldiers
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Sensitive Note

Most people, married or unmarried, find the term housewife perfectly acceptable. But it is sometimes perceived as insulting, perhaps because it implies a lowly status (“She’s just a housewife”) or because it defines an occupation in terms of a woman's relation to a man. Homemaker is a fairly common substitute.
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Derived Forms

  • housewifery, noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of housewife1

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English hus(e)wif; house, wife
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Example Sentences

As the needs and circumstances of housewives shifted, so too did the recipe format.

From Eater

At the dawn of the VHS boom, she sees potential in teaching a session for fellow housewives to do at home.

In the scant three years between her arrest and her execution, this impoverished housewife moved from obscurity to internationally known figure of controversy.

From Time

A housewife pops some bread into a toaster, and the machine—made by Stark Industries—begins to beep menacingly.

From Time

Had it not been for state institutions established by Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, her primary school teacher father and housewife mother would not have been able to send her to university.

From Time

Jones, it should be said, is also aces as the unfulfilled housewife (a role she plays very convincingly on Mad Men).

Right back into that housewife position I was in in the first place.

He simply glanced up at the author of So Big and Show Boat and then wrote “Housewife.”

The 37-year-old was raised in a village outside of Kiev by his mother, a housewife, and his father, a construction manager.

On a cool December evening in 2011, an Egyptian housewife woke up screaming in her bed.

More than once that day was the good housewife tempted to send the three visiting Babcocks home, but was too courteous to do so.

An industrious housewife, she hummed the hymns of contentment and peace from morning till evening.

Crochet needles should be kept in a housewife similar to those used for ordinary needles.

When their mother assumed the duties of housewife in Brussels, she surrounded her children with plain, wholesome conditions.

The modern young housewife has a superabundance of spare time.

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