housing

noun

Simple meaning

Enclosing something or providing a residence for someone.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

howzing

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US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhaʊzɪŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

uncountable
The activity of enclosing something or providing a residence for someone.
Structures collectively in which people are housed
A protective cover designed to contain or support a mechanical component
uncountable
Residences, collectively.
An appendage to the harness or collar of a harness.
A niche for a statue.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency: Very Common
Typical Use: General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The activity of enclosing something or providing a residence for someone.

Used this way, housing is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Matter-of-fact
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use housing

“She lives in low-income housing.”noun
“The gears were grinding against their housing.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

public housinghousing projecthousing developmentnew housingincome housinghousing acthousing authorityhousing market

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

housenounBase word
A dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

federal housing administrationnounCompound term
The federal agency in the Department of Housing and Urban Development that insures residential mortgages.
housing and urban developmentnounCompound term
The United States federal department that administers federal programs dealing with better housing and urban renewal.
housing commissionernounCompound term
A commissioner in charge of public housing.
housing developmentnounCompound term
A residential area of similar dwellings built by property developers and usually under a single management.
housing estatenounCompound term
A residential area where the houses were all planned and built at the same time.
department of housing and urban developmentnounCompound term
The United States federal department that administers federal programs dealing with better housing and urban renewal.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.