Meaning of house in English

house

noun

/haʊs/ us

/haʊs/

plural houses uk

/ˈhaʊ.zɪz/ us

/ˈhaʊ.zɪz/

house noun (HOME)

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A1 [ C ]

a building that people, usually one family, live in:

a detached/semi-detached house

to buy/rent a house

house prices

She lives in a little house in (US on) Cross Street.

See also

farmhouse noun

roadhouse mainly US old-fashioned

Kenneth Batelman/Ikon Images/GettyImages

[ C usually singular ]

all the people living in a house:

the whole house Try not to wake the whole house when you come in!

[ C ]

a building where animals are kept:

the monkey/lion house at the zoo

a hen house

More examplesFewer examples

It costs a lot to buy a house in this part of London.
I'm worried about leaving him alone in the house all day.
She had to be rescued by her neighbours when her house caught fire.
It's a typical country estate with a large house for the owner, farm buildings and estate workers' houses.
Would you like to come round to my house after school?

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Houses & homes

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Groups of people

Animal dwellings - natural

house noun (PUBLIC BUILDING)

[ C ]

a building or part of a building that is used for a special purpose:

the Sydney Opera House

Broadcasting House

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Houses & homes

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house noun (BUSINESS)

a company that is involved in a particular area of business:

a publishing house

a fashion house

UK a curry house (= a South Asian restaurant)

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Enterprises

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house noun (MUSIC)

[ U ]

(also house music)

popular dance music with a fast regular beat, usually produced on electronic equipment:

House music first appeared in the late 1980s.

Compare

EDM
techno
trance

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Pop, rock & soul

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Types of music

house noun (SCHOOL GROUP)

[ C ] UK

any of a small number of groups that the children in a school are put in for sports and other competitions:

an inter-house hockey match

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Students & pupils

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house noun (FAMILY)

[ C ] UK

an important family, especially a royal one:

The British Royal Family belong to the House of Windsor.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Royalty, aristocracy & titles

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house noun (POLITICS)

[ C ]

an organization that makes laws, or its meeting place

the House

the members of the organization that makes laws:

The House began debating the proposal at 3 p.m.

See also

the House of Commons
the House of Lords
the House of Representatives

[ S ]

the group of people who suggest a subject for a debate:

The motion for tonight's debate is, "This house believes that capital punishment should be abolished."

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

UK politics: legislation & law-making

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Competitors & participants in sports & games

house noun (PEOPLE AT THEATRE)

C2 [ C ]

the people watching a performance, especially in a theatre:

full/packed house The opera played to a full/packed house.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

an audience

audienceThe audience went wild after every song she sang.
viewerThe show attracts millions of viewers every week.
listenerListeners tune in regularly for his cheery banter.
crowdThose New Yorkers can be a tough crowd to please.
houseIt's a full house tonight.
spectatorThe spectators cheered when the balloon went up.

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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Theatre auditorium & front-of-house

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Grammar

House or home?

We use the noun house to refer to a building: …

Idioms

get on like a house on fire
get/put your own house in order
go (all) round the houses
house of cards
on the house

house

verb [ T ]

/haʊz/ us

/haʊz/

to give a person or animal a place to live, or to provide space for something:

It will be difficult to house all the refugees.

The museum houses the biggest collection of antique toys in Europe.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to accommodate someone

accommodateThere aren’t enough rooms to accommodate all the students.
give accommodation toThe university gives free accommodation to nursing students.
provide accommodation toWe only provide accommodation to first-year students.
lodgeStudents will be lodged with host families.
houseThe base can house up to 2,000 soldiers.
put someone upI can put you up for a couple of nights.

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More examplesFewer examples

The world's finest collection of Impressionist paintings is housed in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
Military bases were protected by captured enemy soldiers who were housed there as a human shield.
Hostels are usually provided as a stopgap until the families can be housed in permanent accommodation.
New arrivals were being housed in refugee camps.
We aim to house students with local families.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Accommodating people

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(Definition of house from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

house | American Dictionary

house

noun [ C ]

/hɑʊs/

plural houses us/ˈhɑʊ·zəz, -səz/

house noun [C] (HOME)

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a building in which people, usually one family, live:

to buy/rent a house

a brick/clapboard house

my/your/grandma’s house

A house can also be a building where animals are kept:

a dog house

A house (also (also household)) can also be all the people living in a house:

Try not to wake the whole house when you come in!

house noun [C] (BUSINESS)

a business or organization:

a publishing/fashion house

A house can also be a building or part of a building which is used by an organization:

the Metropolitan Opera House

house noun [C] (POLITICS)

an organization that makes laws, or its meeting place

infml The House is the US house of representatives.

house noun [C] (THEATER)

the seats in a theater, or the people watching a performance:

The opera played to a full/empty house.

Idiom

on the house

house

verb [ T ]

/hɑʊz/

to give a person a place to live:

Homeless families have been housed in motels.

The building houses the library (= gives it space).

(Definition of house from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

house | Business English

house

noun [ C ]

/haʊs/ us

plural houses uk/ˈhaʊzɪz/

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COMMERCE

a company that is involved in a particular type of business:

a fashion/banking/publishing house

House

( abbreviation Ho)

used in the names of office or company buildings:

The conference proceeded at the Cannon House Office Building.

COMMERCE

a restaurant or café:

a coffee/tea house

in house

WORKPLACE

used to describe work that is done by a company's paid employees:

He'll keep the work in house, and get it done more cost-effectively than by using a sub-contractor.

See also

in-house adjective

out of house

on the house

used to describe something, usually a meal or a drink, that is free:

The manager sent over a tray of drinks on the house.

Examples of house

house

However, this is not because of the objects it houses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Their relationship with the houses is beyond doubt, as they do not occur further away from the plan.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A possible indication that houses were decorated comes from an oak woodcarving (190 by 16 by 4-5cms) of an anthropomorphic figure.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As a result of the condition in which most houses are found during excavation, there is limited direct evidence for the use of internal space.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

I argue that the temporality of domestic architecture is key to understanding the social and cultural significance of houses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

To approach these questions, one can look for evidence of what was done with houses after they were given up for habitation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Alternatively, since there is no overlap between the houses, they could in theory be contemporaneous.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In many of these areas the large number is likely to be the result of the repeated abandonment of houses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The farmer nearly always reckoned with his labourers in their own houses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They were housed by their employers in boarding houses next to or above the shops, while the shopkeepers themselves lived elsewhere.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The first three types of spatial concentration, which we will discuss in more detail below, were the result of immigrants being housed by their employer.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In that year there were immigrants living in one third of the houses, whereas in other years it was a quarter or less.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We say houses are built, but can you 'build' a cave?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Building and inhabiting houses of this kind was another kind of conspicuous consumption.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There is little evidence that people's relationships with houses or with the dead were conceived in the same way.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.