housekeeping
noun
house·keep·ing
ˈhau̇s-ˌkē-piŋ 
1
a
: the management of a house and home affairs
… coming home to husbands who won't share in the housekeeping …—
The Wilson Quarterly
The Wilson QuarterlyThe first defense against insect infestation is good housekeeping (regular vacuuming) to remove eggs and larvae from the fabrics.—Sara J. Wolf
Sara J. Wolf
b
: the work or activity of cleaning and preparing rooms for customers (as in a hotel)
—often used before another noun
housekeeping services
took a housekeeping job at a nearby hotel
also
: the department or employees responsible for doing such work
If you need fresh towels you can call housekeeping.
2
: the care and management of property and the provision of equipment and services (as for an industrial organization)
3
: the routine tasks that must be done in order for a system to function or to function efficiently
performing some computer housekeeping by deleting old files
Examples of housekeeping in a Sentence
We took the computer offline to do some basic housekeeping.
Recent Examples on the Web
The hotel brought in a subcontracting agency, MevRam, to run housekeeping.
—Katie Campione, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2025
Tan wipes were in the bin, the towels were ruined, and the housekeeping team had to replace nearly everything.
—Jason Pham, StyleCaster, 27 Sep. 2025
Then once their permits were approved, Iryna and Anna both were able to land jobs working in housekeeping at a retirement community, a little over a mile from the Haskells’ home.
—Danielle Battaglia, Charlotte Observer, 22 Sep. 2025
General housekeeping and blade cleaning can also temporarily keep a turbine from spinning.
—Karl Schneider, IndyStar, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for housekeeping
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Katie Campione, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2025
Tan wipes were in the bin, the towels were ruined, and the housekeeping team had to replace nearly everything.
—Jason Pham, StyleCaster, 27 Sep. 2025
Then once their permits were approved, Iryna and Anna both were able to land jobs working in housekeeping at a retirement community, a little over a mile from the Haskells’ home.
—Danielle Battaglia, Charlotte Observer, 22 Sep. 2025
General housekeeping and blade cleaning can also temporarily keep a turbine from spinning.
—Karl Schneider, IndyStar, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for housekeeping
Cite this Entry
“Housekeeping.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/housekeeping. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share