homesteader

noun

home·​stead·​er ˈhōm-ˌste-dər 

plural homesteaders

: someone who homesteads:

a

: someone who acquires, settles on, or occupies land under a homestead law (see homestead law sense 2)

As more homesteaders arrived, they took more and more Native American land.

—Ann Byers

Her grandmother came to Kansas in a covered wagon as a homesteader in 1883 …

—Mark Binelli

b

: someone who lives frugally or self-sufficiently (as on a homestead) especially by growing and preserving food

There are modern-day homesteaders who have traded contemporary conveniences such as … a reliable internet connection to grow much of their own food and—as much as possible—live off the land …

—Chris Moody

We are city homesteaders. We have a 100-foot lot and make the most of it.

—Faye Waloch

As a homesteader, you might even fish as a means to put more food on the table.

—Kacey Mya

Many homesteaders make their own soaps, skin care items, and herbal remedies or sew or knit their own clothing, and in other ways reduce the need for shopping and consumerism.

—Kristin Lie-Nielsen

Examples of homesteader in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

According To Our Readers History Of Anna Maria Island Inheriting the land from his father (Anna Maria Island's first homesteader) in 1892, Will Bean worked with fellow promoter and developer Charles Roser to make the island an escape ready to appeal to investors. —Tracey Minkin, Southern Living, 6 Sep. 2024

In the 1880s, homesteaders from Texas moved into the canyon and established cattle ranches. —Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 5 Sep. 2024

And the fact that the latest group of homesteaders have just held a dance in the town barn doesn’t spare them from a massacre. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 28 June 2024

But after early-20th-century homesteaders began working seams of surface coal, mining took off and coal-burning power plants grew to sustain the rural county. —Elaine Glusac, Travel + Leisure, 25 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

homestead entry 2 + -er entry 2

First Known Use

1865, in the meaning defined above