domestic science

noun

chiefly British, old-fashioned

: a subject or class that teaches skills (such as cooking or sewing) which are useful in the home : home economics

The girls weren't supposed to be good at "maths," so we took arithmetic, and while the boys were spending long hours studying maths we took needlework and domestic science instead.

—Denny Taylor

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The nineteenth-century idea of domestic science was an attempt to systematize the tasks and duties of the housewife. —Hari Kunzru, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2021

The Experiment Station is renamed the Good Housekeeping Institute, a facility on the street level of the Good Housekeeping building in Springfield, Massachusetts which included a model kitchen, domestic science laboratory, and test stations. —Good Housekeeping, 31 Oct. 2015

Word History

First Known Use

1852, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

domestic science

noun

: instruction and training in household management and arts (as cooking and sewing)