homecoming

noun

home·​com·​ing ˈhōm-ˌkə-miŋ 

1

: a return home

a soldier's homecoming

2

: the return of a group of people usually on a special occasion to a place formerly frequented or regarded as home

especially : an annual celebration for alumni at a high school, college, or university

—often used before another noun

a homecoming rally

homecoming weekend

the annual homecoming game/dance

was elected the homecoming queen

Examples of homecoming in a Sentence

A large crowd gathered at the airport for the soldiers' homecoming.

Recent Examples on the Web

But that was just as well, for today's homecoming had plenty of drama — and a fair bit of danger. —Mike Wall, Space.com, 11 Apr. 2026

Flying southwest to northeast, the spacecraft steered toward a splashdown zone southwest of San Diego, where a US Navy recovery ship held position to await the crew’s homecoming. —Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 11 Apr. 2026

The city of Chester celebrated one of its own Friday by renaming a street in honor of Grammy Award-winning R&B artist Avery*Sunshine during an emotional homecoming ceremony. —Madeleine Wright, CBS News, 10 Apr. 2026

Now, the crew of Artemis II are on the cusp of making a victorious homecoming, returning to Earth aboard their Orion spacecraft in a fiery, treacherous final leg that will end with a water landing in the Pacific Ocean. —Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 10 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for homecoming

• overcoming
• unbecoming
• becoming
• forthcoming
• incoming
• oncoming
• shortcoming
• succumbing
• upcoming
• coming
• cumming
• drumming

Kids Definition

homecoming

noun

home·​com·​ing ˈhōm-ˌkəm-ing 

1

: a return home

2

a

: the return of a group of people usually on a special occasion to a place formerly frequented

b

: a yearly celebration for alumni at a school