Word.ws English Dictionary

longhouse

longhouse noun: a long communal housing of the Iroquois and some other American Indians, the Malaysians, the Indonesians, the Vikings, and many other peoples.

longhouse: a long communal housing of the Iroquois and some other American Indians, the Malaysians, the...
Image: Lestat (Jan Mehlich), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

longhouse (plural longhouses)

  1. A long communal housing of the Iroquois and some other American Indians, the Malaysians, the Indonesians, the Vikings, and many other peoples.
    • They marched in under French Colours and were conducted into the Long House.1751, C. Gist, Journals, page 51
    • We met in Council at the Long House.1753, George Washington, Diary, volume I, page 50
  2. (euphemistic, obsolete) An outhouse, an outbuilding used for urination and defecation.
    • To make wads and wisps for those that go to the Long-house (you know what I meane).1622, M. Alemán, chapter II, in J. Mabbe, transl., Rogue, page 355
  3. (derogatory, slang, far-right subcultures) The modern society, perceived as increasingly matriarchal and overly egalitarian, and therefore stifling nonconformity and masculine values.
    • Incredible witnessing the tone of the longhouse authoritarian liberal regime is that of an obsessive and histrionic ex or overbearing mother trying to gaslight you. The twilight days of the Soviet union at least tried to project an air of masculine competency via propaganda.2022 February 19, @giantgio, Twitter, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2022
    • The most important feature of the Longhouse, and why it makes such a resonant (and controversial) symbol of our current circumstances, is the ubiquitous rule of the Den Mother. More than anything, the Longhouse refers to the remarkable overcorrection of the last two generations toward social norms...2023 February 16, L0m3z [pseudonym, Jonathan Keeperman], “What is the Longhouse?”, in First Things, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2025

Noun (2) capitalized: Longhouse

the Longhouse (uncountable)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of longhouse (“matriarchal modern society”).

longhouse meaning in Malay

longhouse in Malay

communal dwelling
rumah panjang

Examples of longhouse in a sentence

  • The longhouse is an object lesson in community living.1971 July 15, Lady, page 88:
  • The most important feature of the Longhouse, and why it makes such a resonant (and controversial) symbol of our current circumstances, is the ubiquitous rule of the Den Mother.2023 February 16, L0m3z [pseudonym, Jonathan Keeperman], “What is the Longhouse?”, in First Things, archived from the original on 07 Feb...
  • As the concept of the “Longhouse” makes clear, the new administration’s use of “gender ideology” rhetoric isn’t just about trans people; it’s about the upending of traditional gender roles.2025 February 8, Elisabeth Zerofsky, “Trump Joins a Global War on ‘Gender Ideology’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the...

Synonyms of longhouse

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of longhouse

Forms of longhouse

plurallonghouses
alternative formlong house
alternative formlong-house

Origin of longhouse

From long + house. The sense of outhouse possibly derives from Whittington's Longhouse, a public toilet in medieval London, but first attested in a translation of a similar French expression.

Questions about longhouse

What does longhouse mean?
Longhouse means a long communal housing of the Iroquois and some other American Indians, the Malaysians, the Indonesians, the Vikings, and many other peoples.
What is longhouse in Malay?
Longhouse in Malay is rumah panjang. See Longhouse meaning in Malay.
How do you use longhouse in a sentence?
The longhouse is an object lesson in community living.
What part of speech is longhouse?
Longhouse is a noun.
What is the plural of longhouse?
The plural of longhouse is longhouses.

Words near longhouse in the dictionary

  1. longhorned
  2. longhorned tick
  3. longhorned ticks
  4. longhorns
  5. Longhoughton
  6. longhouse
  7. longhouses
  8. Longhua
  9. longhunter
  10. longhunters
  11. Longhurst

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: longhouse (page history and authors); Longhouse (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-longhouse.wav.

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