homework

From home + work.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhəʊmˌwɜːk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhoʊmˌwɜɹk/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -əʊmwɜː(ɹ)k
• Hyphenation: home‧work

homework (usually uncountable, plural homeworks)

1. (literally, now rare) Any work that is done at home.

   Synonym: housework

   • 1989, Eileen Boris, Cynthia R. Daniels, Homework: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Paid Labor at Home, University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 241:

     Hatch perceived homework to be one tool—along with various workfare schemes and private sector training programs—that would take women off welfare and make poor women "independent."

2. Exercises assigned by a teacher to a student to be completed out of class.

   Hypernym: schoolwork

   Coordinate term: classwork

   You must do your homework before you can watch television.

   • 2011 September 16, Pete Bell, “Increasing engagement in homework”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     They will also be doing a few preparation homeworks for the practical CA during this time so it won't all be Unit1 focussed.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

   • 2013 July 1, Peter Wilby, “Finland's education ambassador spreads the word”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 October 2022:

     Even 15-year-olds do no more than 30 minutes' homework a night.

   • 2023 January 12, Kevin Roose, “Don't Ban ChatGPT in Schools. Teach With It.”, in The New York Times‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 January 2023:

     And I'm sympathetic to teachers who feel that they have enough to worry about, without adding A.I.-generated homework to the mix.

   • 2024 May 15, 'Industry Insider', “Labour's plan for the railway”, in RAIL, number 1009, page 68:

     Under the proposals, an assurance is given that GBR (in the words of the plan) will not be marking its own homework.

3. (by extension) Preliminary or preparatory work.

   The speaker had certainly done his homework before delivering the lecture.

   • 2012 April 10, John Hudson, “North Korea Has a Clumsy Way of Soothing Concerns About Its Rocket Launch”, in James Bennet, editor, The Atlantic‎^[4], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 January 2022:

     Since the whole world is watching this launch, they probably should've done some homework on their talking points.

   • 2017 May 9, “Mindful sex is better sex, says B.C. researcher promoting new workbook”, in CBC News‎^[5], archived from the original on 22 November 2022:

     Four years after her first sexual health book came out, Dr. Lori Brotto is giving her readers a little bit of homework for the bedroom.

   • 2022 July 18, Donald Mcrae, quoting Michael Yormark, “Roc Nation's Michael Yormark on Romelu Lukaku: 'You have to play to his strengths... I don't think that happened'”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[6], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 December 2022:

     I didn't even know who he was until I did my homework and realised he was a premier footballer for Bayern.

   • 2023 August 7, Suzanne Wrack, “England beat Nigeria on penalties to reach Women’s World Cup quarter-finals”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[7], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 October 2026:

     Nigeria had done their homework and were well organised. Halimatu Ayinde was exceptional in her marking of James, who had scored twice and provided three assists as she ran the show against China.

4. (slang, euphemistic) Sexual intercourse.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sexual activity

   • 1933, James T. Farrell, Gas-House McGinty, page 186:

     My wife and I want a kid, and we do plenty of homework, but goddamn it, Dutch, I just can't connect.

5. (BDSM) Tasks assigned by a dominant for a submissive to perform when they are physically away from their dominant or otherwise free.

• The term homework generally implies that the work is mandatory and worth marks; exercises that are optional are usually referred to as, for example, practice problems, review problems, extra practice, exercises. Work of a larger scale than homework (which involves a series of relatively simple exercises) is usually referred to as an assignment or project

• → Hindi: होमवर्क (homvark)
• → Urdu: ہوم وَرْک (hom vark)

• busy work

• “homework”, in Merriam-Webster Online, Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1996–present.
• “homework, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “homework”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• workhome