Word.ws English Dictionary

in the doghouse

in the doghouse prepositional phrase: in a situation of being the object of someone's anger or disapproval, especially one's spouse.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic, informal) In a situation of being the object of someone's anger or disapproval, especially one's spouse.
    • I had a mighty interesting visitor. It was the Crown Prince of Germany's son. […] He is a mighty likable young fellow, about 26 years old, the second son, but the oldest one married outside the thoroughbred pasture and now he is in the doghouse as far as any succession is concerned.1933 December 17, Will Rogers, “Noted Visitors at the Rogers Ranch”, in Milwaukee Journal, page 6
    • Nick was deep in the doghouse with Louella after three days of persistent phone calls and his final less-than-tactful message.1994, Karen Robards, Maggy's Child, →ISBN, page 196
    Synonyms:
    doghoused, in hot water, in someone's bad books, in the dogbox

Synonyms of in the doghouse

Questions about in the doghouse

What does in the doghouse mean?
In the doghouse means in a situation of being the object of someone's anger or disapproval, especially one's spouse.
What part of speech is in the doghouse?
In the doghouse is a prepositional phrase.

Words near in the doghouse in the dictionary

  1. in the crosshairs
  2. in the dark
  3. in the distance
  4. in the dock
  5. in the dogbox
  6. in the doghouse
  7. in the drink
  8. in the driver's seat
  9. in the driving seat
  10. in the dumps
  11. in the ear

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: in the doghouse (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-in the doghouse.wav.

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