husband

/ˈhʌzbənd/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern England/ˈhʊzbənd/

husband noun: a man in a marriage or marital relationship, especially in relation to his spouse.

Noun

husband (plural husbands)

A man in a marriage or marital relationship, especially in relation to his spouse.
- You should start dating so you can find a suitable husband.
- The husband and wife are one person in law.1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC
Synonyms:

hubby, mister
(UK) A manager of property; one who has the care of another's belongings, owndom, or interests; a steward; an economist.
(archaic) A prudent or frugal manager.
- God knows how little time is left me, and may I be a good husband, to improve the short remnant thereof.1645, Thomas Fuller, Good Thoughts in Bad Times, Occasional Meditations: V
- [S]o I went and fetch’d a good Dram of Rum, and gave him; for I had been ſo good a Husband of my Rum, that I had a great deal left: When he had drank it, I made him take the two Fowling-Pieces, which we always carry’d, and load them with large Swan-Shot, as big as ſmall Piſtol Bullets; then I took...1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, pages 273–274
(dated) The master of a house; the head of a family; a householder.
A tiller of the ground; a husbandman.
- […] a withered tree, through husbands toyle,
  Is often seene full freshly to have florisht […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC
- The painfull husband plowing up his ground, Shall finde all fret and rust both pikes and shields1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Power and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the World. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, […], →OCLC
The male of a pair of animals.
- Husband of the Herd1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
A large cushion with arms meant to support a person in the sitting position.
- While reading her book, Sally leaned back against her husband, wishing it were the human kind.
Synonyms:

husband pillow
(UK, dialectal) A polled tree; a pollard.

Verb

husband (third-person singular simple present husbands, present participle husbanding, simple past and past participle husbanded)

(transitive) To manage or administer carefully and frugally; use to the best advantage; economise.
- And for my meanes, I'll husband them so well,
  They shall go farre with little.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
(transitive) To conserve.
- ...I found pens, ink, and paper, and I husbanded them to the utmost; and I shall show that while my ink lasted, I kept things very exact, but after that was gone I could not, for I could not make any ink by any means that I could devise.1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
(obsolete, transitive) To till; cultivate; farm; nurture.
- Land so trim and rarely husbanded.1672 May 28 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 19 May 1672]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I...
(archaic, transitive) To provide with a husband.
- Thinke you, I am no ſtronger then my Sex
  Being ſo Father'd, and ſo Husbanded?1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
(transitive) To engage or act as a husband to; assume the care of or responsibility for; accept as one's own.

Proper noun capitalized: Husband

Husband (countable and uncountable, plural Husbands)

A surname.
An unincorporated community in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States, named after Harmon Husband.

husband meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

husband in Hindi

male partner in marriage: पति pati, स्वामी svāmī, धनी dhanī, भतार bhatār

husband in Tamil

male partner in marriage: அம்படையன் ampaṭaiyaṉ, கணவன் kaṇavaṉ

husband in Marathi

male partner in marriage: नवरा navrā, पती patī

husband in Urdu

male partner in marriage: شَوہَر śauhar, پَتی patī, خاوَنْد xāvand, خاوِنْد xāvind, مِیاں miyā̃, سَرْتاج sartāj

More languagesFewer languages

husband in Bengali: স্বামী śami, শওহর śoōhor, জওজ joōj, পতি poti
husband in Telugu: మొగుడు moguḍu, భర్త bharta, పెనిమిటి penimiṭi, పోషణ pōṣaṇa
husband in Malayalam: ഭർത്താവ് bhaṟttāvŭ
husband in Kannada: ಪತಿ pati, ಗಂಡ gaṃḍa
husband in Punjabi: ਪਤੀ patī
husband in Gujarati: પતિ pati, નાવ nāv
husband in Odia: ସ୍ୱାମୀ swāmi
husband in Sanskrit: पति pati, स्वामिन् svāmin, नाथ nātha
husband in Sinhala: සැමියා sæmiyā, ස්වාමිපුරුෂයා swāmipuruṣayā, පුරුෂයා puruṣayā
husband in Assamese: গিৰি giri, পৈ poi, স্বামী sami
husband in Nepali: पति pati, श्रीमान śrīmān
husband in Pashto: خاوند xāwand, مړو mṛo, مېړه meṛᶕ, سړی saṛay
husband in Tagalog: asawa, bana, lalaking asawa, esposo
husband in Arabic: زَوْج zawj, بَعْل baʕl, جوز gōz, زوج zōg
husband in Malay: suami, laki
husband in Indonesian: suami
husband in Persian: شَوْهَر šawhar, زَوْج zawj, شُوْهَر šowhar, شو šu
husband in Thai: สามี sǎa-mii, ผัว pǔua
husband in Vietnamese: chồng
husband in Myanmar: လင် lang, ခင်ပွန်း hkangpwan:
Kashmiri: خانہٕ دار khānhụ dār, خاوَنٛد khāvand, بَرتھا barthā, روٗن rūn

Examples of husband in a sentence

She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The...
After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
Smooth and slender and naked, Mary Rittersdorf faced her husband.1964, Philip K. Dick, “THIRTEEN”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London...
He is the neatest husband for curious ordering his domestick and field accommodations.1681 September 8 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 30 August 1681]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of...

All 40 example sentences with husband

Synonyms of husband

Antonyms

wife

All synonyms and antonyms of husband

Forms of husband

Noun
plural	husbands
Verb
third-person singular present	husbands
present participle	husbanding
past participle	husbanded
past	husbanded
Proper noun
plural	Husbands

Plural of husband: husbands

Origin of husband

Inherited from Middle English husbonde, from Old English hūsbonda, from hūs + bonda. Calque of Old Norse húsbóndi. By surface analysis, house + bond.

Phrases with husband

Questions about husband

What does husband mean?: Husband means a man in a marriage or marital relationship, especially in relation to his spouse.
What is husband in Hindi?: Husband in Hindi is पति (pati), स्वामी (svāmī), धनी (dhanī). See Husband meaning in Hindi.
How do you use husband in a sentence?: She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.
What part of speech is husband?: Husband can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce husband?: Husband is pronounced /ˈhʌzbənd/.
What is the plural of husband?: The plural of husband is husbands.

Words near husband in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: husband (page history and authors); Husband (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-husband.ogg, En-uk-husband.ogg.

Cite this entry: “husband.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/husband. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.