home video

noun

plural home videos

1

: a homemade video (see video entry 1 sense 1) that is not usually intended for commercial release or distribution

We showed our friends home videos of our vacation in the Caribbean.

People are consuming millions of hours of shaky, selfie-quality home video on their phones every day.

—Karen Bussone

… make a home video, using a cell phone or camera, of yourself performing your selection.

—The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, North Carolina)

2

: prerecorded video (see video entry 1 sense 1a) marketed for home viewing

The popular TV series … returns to home video with the DVD and Blu-ray releases of … Season Three.

—Mike Spring

It's not clear when other [streaming] platforms will add season four, but it usually takes several months for new seasons to receive a home video release …

—Business Insider US

Examples of home video in a Sentence

the latest releases in home video

We watched a home video of their wedding.

Recent Examples on the Web

No home videos from happier days, now tinged with the ominousness of a tragedy in the making. —David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 26 Jan. 2026

The filmmakers secured access to the family’s private collection of diaries, letters, photographs and previously unseen home videos. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 14 Jan. 2026

Watching it back, the resemblance to her childhood home videos felt uncanny. —Sara Radin, Vogue, 13 Jan. 2026

The 1986 movie, directed by Muppets creator Jim Henson and written by Monty Python’s Terry Jones, was a bit of a dud on its initial release but gained popularity through home video. —Sal Pizarro, Mercury News, 13 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined at sense 2