housewarming

noun house·warm·ing \ ˈhau̇s-ˌwȯr-miŋ \

|Updated on: 16 Jul 2018

Definition of housewarming

: a party to celebrate the taking possession of a house or premises

See housewarming defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of housewarming from the Web

The store’s candles ($40) will be my go-to housewarming gift as long as there are friends in new apartments to sort-of willingly receive them.

— New York Times, "Breaking the Binary," 11 July 2018
Pineapples Despite its imperialist origins, pineapples have endured as a universal symbol of housewarming and welcome.

— elise taylor, Vogue, "Housewarming Gifts That Have a History of Bringing Good Luck," 16 May 2018
The box was carefully packed with damp sphagnum moss, the packaging material of choice for shipping the sacred Yeager Roots, a housewarming gift from my parents.

— jeff yeager, Good Housekeeping, "8 Perennial Vegetables Anyone Can Grow," 21 Mar. 2011
Across the street, hundreds more lined up for a housewarming at the university’s Institute of Politics, where conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens of the advisory board.

— eric thurm, WIRED, "An Alternate Reality Game That Takes Freshmen Orientation to a New Level," 25 Mar. 2018
The song originally dropped in 2016, however Pusha T recently jumped on the track as a housewarming gift.

— rachel george, Billboard, "Valee Enlists Pusha T for Dreamy 'Miami' Video," 27 Feb. 2018
But my own mother, after watching me take upwards of 15 minutes to dice a red onion, punctuated by pathetic displays of running my eyes under water every 30 seconds, sent me my own Pull Chop as a housewarming present.

— beejoli shah, Bon Appetit, "The Ultra-Basic Tool That Single-Handedly Turned Me Into a Home Cook," 12 July 2017
One of their orchids or potted plants always make a great housewarming gift.

— katie toussaint, charlotteobserver, "What to eat, drink and do in Dilworth," 8 Sep. 2017
Read more Gordy gave Reaves, who grew up across the street from the mansion, his baby grand Steinway piano as a housewarming gift.

— hasan dudar, Detroit Free Press, "Come and get these memories: Motown items offered at Gordy Mansion estate sale in Detroit," 29 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'housewarming.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.