housewifely
housewifely adjective: befitting a housewife.
Adjective
housewifely (comparative more housewifely, superlative most housewifely)
- Befitting a housewife.
- […] to make the yong women sobre minded, to loue their husbands to loue their children, to be discrete, chaste, housewifely, good and obediente vnto theyr owne husbands […]c. 1550, Thomas Becon, “A generalle prayer that all Men may walke in their vo[c]acion and callynge”, in The Flour of Godly Praiers, London: John Day
- A wholesome good housewifely Countrey Wench is worth a thousand of you, in sadness.1676, Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso, London: Henry Herringman, act I, page 12
- Synonyms:
- housewifey, housewifish
Examples of housewifely in a sentence
- […] as for the Maid, she was […] very handy and housewifely in any Thing that was before her; an excellent Manager, and fit indeed to have been Governess to the whole Island […]1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam]...
- […] her stepfather […] waited on, looking into the fire and keeping the kettle boiling with housewifely care, as if it were an honour to have her in his house.1886, Thomas Hardy, chapter 18, in The Mayor of Casterbridge, volume 2, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 240:
- He had enjoyed his Mexican holiday, and still was unable to proffer a bit of kindness to the woman who had waited patiently, busying herself with housewifely duties.1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 31, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 207:
Synonyms of housewifely
Forms of housewifely
| comparative | more housewifely |
|---|---|
| superlative | most housewifely |
| alternative form | housewively |
Origin of housewifely
From Middle English *houswyfely, *houswijfli, *houswiflich, suggested by houswifliche (adverb), equivalent to housewife + -ly.
Words formed from housewifely
Questions about housewifely
- What does housewifely mean?
- Housewifely means befitting a housewife.
- How do you use housewifely in a sentence?
- […] as for the Maid, she was […] very handy and housewifely in any Thing that was before her; an excellent Manager, and fit indeed to have been Governess to the whole Island […]
- What part of speech is housewifely?
- Housewifely is an adjective.
Words near housewifely in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: housewifely (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “housewifely.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/housewifely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.