home economics

noun

plural in form but singular or plural in construction

: a subject or class that teaches skills (such as cooking or sewing) which are useful in the home

Classes in the family and consumer sciences—no one calls it home economics anymore—have changed too, stressing the entrepreneurial over the domestic …

—Bonnie Miller Rubin

If you passed seventh-grade home economics, you can probably sew a few basic nursery accessories.

—Deeanne Gist

called also home ec

home economist noun

Examples of home economics in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For example, your child may take art in seventh grade and home economics in eighth grade. —Jennifer O'Donnell, Parents, 18 July 2024

In September 1865, at the age of 15, Hesse was sent to a finishing school in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, to learn French, home economics and decorum, as was common for elite young women of the time. —Corrado Nai, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 June 2024

Allie Echeverria, a modern home economics expert and founder of the Eaton Broshan Method, says that the hack does keep your shower looking clean in the short term. —Amanda Lauren, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 Mar. 2024

Parents, not state bureaucrats or school administrators, best understand their children’s educational strengths and needs, which run the gamut from specific subjects to physical activity to home economics. —John Tillman, National Review, 6 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1872, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

home economics

noun

: the study of the care and management of a household

home economist noun