Meaning & use
homesick
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Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Sad because you are far from your home and family and miss them.
Grammar: Used after be or feel, often with for: homesick for the countryside.
Patterns
- feel/be homesick
- homesick for something
During her first week at university she was terribly homesick.
He felt homesick for his grandmother's kitchen.
Many students get homesick in the first month away.
Word forms
| comparative | more homesick |
|---|---|
| superlative | most homesick |
Common combinations
- feel homesick
- I felt homesick as soon as the train left the station.
- get homesick
- Campers sometimes get homesick on the second night.
- homesick for
- She was homesick for the sound of her native language.
- terribly homesick
- The little boy was terribly homesick at summer camp.
- homesick student
- A homesick student called her parents every evening.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nostalgic
- Nostalgic usually looks back to a past time with fondness, but homesick is about being away from home right now.
- lonely
- Lonely is about lacking company anywhere, whereas homesick ties the sadness to a particular home.
- wistful
- Wistful is gentler and more reflective, suggesting a quiet longing rather than distress.
- yearning
- Yearning describes a strong desire for anything, but homesick specifies that the object is home.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: homesick or homebound?
homesick vs homebound
Homebound means heading home or confined there, and does not mean missing home as homesick does.
Practice
After a month abroad, Marco felt ___ and called his family every night.
Choose one answer.
Homesick means missing home, which explains the nightly calls. Homeless means having no home, homely describes a comfortable or plain look, and homebound means traveling home or unable to leave it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “homesick”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.