homesteader

noun

home·​stead·​er ˈhōm-ˌste-dər 

plural homesteaders

: someone who homesteads:

a

: someone who acquires, settles on, or occupies land under a homestead law (see homestead law sense 2)

As more homesteaders arrived, they took more and more Native American land.

—Ann Byers

Her grandmother came to Kansas in a covered wagon as a homesteader in 1883 …

—Mark Binelli

b

: someone who lives frugally or self-sufficiently (as on a homestead) especially by growing and preserving food

There are modern-day homesteaders who have traded contemporary conveniences such as … a reliable internet connection to grow much of their own food and—as much as possible—live off the land …

—Chris Moody

We are city homesteaders. We have a 100-foot lot and make the most of it.

—Faye Waloch

As a homesteader, you might even fish as a means to put more food on the table.

—Kacey Mya

Many homesteaders make their own soaps, skin care items, and herbal remedies or sew or knit their own clothing, and in other ways reduce the need for shopping and consumerism.

—Kristin Lie-Nielsen

Examples of homesteader in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Haushofer’s The Wall prompts readers to reflect on this question as an unnamed protagonist becomes a forced—though not unhappy—homesteader, cutoff from society by an invisible barrier. — Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 17 July 2026

In the mid-19th century, a family of Dutch-Afrikaans homesteaders sets out to cross the inhospitable terrain of the Kalahari Desert along with their backer, a boorish Brit whose avarice and bigotry loom large over the journey. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 15 July 2026

Luke Bracey and Crosby Fitzgerald star as Charles and Caroline Ingalls, homesteaders who move their family from Wisconsin to Kansas in the Western drama series. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 10 July 2026

Lindsey Chastain is an experienced homesteader and is the founder and CEO of The Waddle and Cluck. — The Spruce, 5 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

homestead entry 2 + -er entry 2

First Known Use

1865, in the meaning defined above