Household Meaning
/ˈhaʊshəʊld/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounCollectively, all the persons who live in a given house; a family including attendants, servants etc.; a domestic or family establishment.
nounEntirety of work and management required to sustain the household.
Sentence Examples
More and more married couples share household chores.
The household was already awake at 6 in the morning.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The entire ____ helped clean the kitchen after the big family dinner.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Most ____ chores are shared equally among all the members of our large family.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English houshold. By surface analysis, house + hold. Cognate with Scots houshald, housald, housell, howsell (“household”), Dutch huishouden (“household”) (earlier huishoud), German Low German Huushollen (“household”) (Middle Low German hūsholt), German Haushalt (“household”), Swedish hushåll (“household, family”), Norwegian husholdning (“household”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And calls, without affecting airs, / His household twice a day to prayers."
— 1732, Jonathan Swift, The Beasts' Confession to the Priest:
"Shih Hung-pi was born a pauper at a poor household in Suichung County, Liaoning. He suffered untold misery in the old society. Then he joined the PLA."
— 1975 March 13 [1975 March 7], “Chief of Staff of PLA Air Unit Dies in Training Exercise”, in Daily Report: People's Republic of China, volume I, number 50, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, →ISSN, →OCLC, page E 6:
"Although I was a member of the royal household, I was not among the privileged few who were trained for rule."
— 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 5:
"Nearly half of all renter households in the US were cost-burdened in 2023, meaning they paid more than 30% of their income towards housing costs, according to new government data."
— 2024 September 12, Samantha Delouya, “Nearly half of US renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs”, in CNN Business:
"In thee thy mother dies, our household's name, / My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's fame."
— 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi], line 39:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The entire ____ helped clean the kitchen after the big family dinner.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Most ____ chores are shared equally among all the members of our large family.