homesteading

noun

home·​stead·​ing ˈhōm-ˌste-diŋ 

1

: the act or practice of acquiring, settling on, or occupying land under a homestead law (see homestead law sense 2)

Homesteading was a minor factor in farm formation; most farmers purchased their land.

—Richard Edwards et al.

Homesteaders still were receiving no training or farm development loans from the Bureau, and this became a major issue in Congressional debates over postwar homesteading.

—Brian Q. Cannon

2

: the act or practice of living frugally or self-sufficiently (as on a homestead) especially by growing and preserving food

While homesteading is full of … delicious homegrown food, and quality family time, it is also chock-full of chores and life lessons.

—Jenna Dooley

In Madison County, food preservation techniques and other homesteading skills remain a big part of daily life, said Koontz, and many locals stay closely tied to their land and what it can produce.

—Mackensy Lunsford

… an urban homesteading venture in which he grows vegetables and makes kombucha, herbal salves and more out of his home.

—Courtney Lamdin and Sasha Goldstein

Examples of homesteading in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Services: Licensing and passports, human services, election services, property taxes and homesteading, household medication disposal, workforce development, public health clinic. —Talia McWright, Twin Cities, 27 Aug. 2025

Kids and adults can take part in homesteading classes, check out a show in the 30-foot planetarium dome, participate in seasonal programming, or simply wander around the properties’ six historic buildings, including a drugstore, school, church, and cabin. —Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 7 Aug. 2025

There, Underwood and husband Mike Fisher and their two sons, Isaiah and Jacob, practice homesteading. —Stephanie Giang-Paunon, FOXNews.com, 5 Aug. 2025

This method, rooted in the mid-19th century homesteading and gold rush era, enabled farmers and miners to secure and divert water according to their arrival, rather than their geographical position along the river. —Sharon Udasin, The Hill, 17 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

homestead entry 2 + -ing entry 1

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for homesteading

• bedding
• dreading
• heading
• shedding
• shredding
• sledding
• spreading
• threading
• treading
• wedding
• beheading
• embedding