# homestead

/ˈhoʊmˌstɛd/ (US) · /hˈəʊmstɛd/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/homestead
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Senses

### 1. a farm and its buildings

noun · CEFR B2

a house together with the land and buildings around it, especially on a farm.

For teachers: a dwelling house and the adjoining land and buildings, typically constituting a farm or estate.

- The family worked hard to maintain their homestead during the long winter months.
- The original homestead, consisting of a stone cottage and three timber barns, has remained in the family for four generations.

### 2. extended family compound

noun · CEFR C1 · Dialect

a group of several houses where an extended family lives together.

For teachers: a cluster of dwellings occupied by an extended family unit, particularly within a rural or traditional social structure.

- In the village, each homestead was surrounded by a tall wooden fence for privacy.
- The traditional homestead layout allowed the elders to supervise the communal activities of the younger family members effectively.

Usage: Commonly used in South African English to describe rural family living arrangements.

### 3. to live self-sufficiently

verb · CEFR C1 · American English

to live on a piece of land and grow your own food, often to gain ownership of the land.

For teachers: to settle on and cultivate land, especially under a government grant or as part of a self-sufficiency movement.

- They decided to move to the mountains and homestead on a small plot of land.
- Under the 1862 Act, many families moved west to homestead, hoping to secure a permanent title to the land through five years of cultivation.

Usage: Often used intransitively to describe a lifestyle of self-reliance.

## Examples

- They built a small homestead in the mountains.
- After moving to the countryside, the couple spent years restoring the original homestead and planting an organic garden.
- The 19th-century legislation allowed settlers to claim a homestead on the frontier, provided they lived on the land and improved it through cultivation for five consecutive years.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.