domestic

[ duh-mes-tik ]
See synonyms for domestic on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. of or relating to the home, the household, household affairs, or the family: domestic pleasures.

  2. devoted to home life or household affairs.

  1. no longer wild; domesticated; tame: domestic animals.

  2. of or relating to one's own or a particular country as apart from other countries: domestic trade.

  3. indigenous to or produced or made within one's own country; not foreign; native: domestic goods.

noun
  1. a hired household servant.

  2. something produced or manufactured in one's own country.

  1. domestics, household items made of cloth, as sheets, towels, and tablecloths.

Origin of domestic

1
First recorded in 1515–25; from Latin domesticus, derivative of domus “house” (see dome); replacing domestique, from Middle French

word story For domestic

The English word domestic ultimately comes from Latin domesticus, formed from the noun domus “house, home, family, household (with dependents), school (of philosophy).” The adjectival suffix -esticus is a combination of two suffixes: -estis (the adjective domestis does not exist in Latin) and -ticus (borrowed from rusticus “pertaining to a farm or farming, rural, provincial”).
When the adjective domestic first appeared in English in the early 16th century, it meant “housed.” The sense “relating to one’s own country” dates to 1545, and Shakespeare was presumably the first to use domestic in the sense “relating to one’s home or family affairs.”
The noun domestic “something made in the home” dates from the first half of the 17th century. In the United States, in the first half of the 19th century, domestic developed the specific meaning “homemade cotton cloth.” Its plural domestics now means “household items made of cloth, such as sheets, towels, and tablecloths.”
Domus comes from the Proto-Indo-European root dem-, dom- (with variants) used to form a verb “to chop (wood), build" as well as the noun "a house.” Dom- is also the source of Greek dómos “house,” Sanskrit dáma- “house, building,” Slavic dom “house, home.” The variant dem- forms Greek démein “to build”; the suffixed root demro- becomes timra- in Germanic, whose derivative noun timram “building material, wood,” becomes timber in English.
The English word dome, “a vault, having a circular plan and usually in the shape of a portion of a sphere,” ultimately derives from Latin domus (Deī) “house (of God),” which becomes Italian duomo and German Dom, both meaning “cathedral.”

Other words from domestic

  • do·mes·ti·cal·ly, adverb
  • an·ti·do·mes·tic, adjective
  • an·ti·do·mes·ti·cal·ly, adverb
  • non·do·mes·tic, adjective, noun
  • non·do·mes·ti·cal·ly, adverb
  • pre·do·mes·tic, adjective
  • pre·do·mes·ti·cal·ly, adverb
  • sem·i·do·mes·tic, adjective
  • sem·i·do·mes·ti·cal·ly, adverb
  • un·do·mes·tic, adjective
  • un·do·mes·ti·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use domestic in a sentence

  • That there is a nondomestic type of woman to-day is due to the rise of feminism and the fascination of industry.

    The Nervous Housewife | Abraham Myerson

British Dictionary definitions for domestic

domestic

/ (dəˈmɛstɪk) /


adjective
  1. of or involving the home or family

  2. enjoying or accustomed to home or family life

  1. (of an animal) bred or kept by man as a pet or for purposes such as the supply of food

  2. of, produced in, or involving one's own country or a specific country: domestic and foreign affairs

noun
  1. a household servant

  2. informal (esp in police use) an incident of violence in the home, esp between a man and a woman

Origin of domestic

1
C16: from Old French domestique, from Latin domesticus belonging to the house, from domus house

Derived forms of domestic

  • domestically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012