housebound

Meanings

1. 1adjectivenot comparable

   Unable to leave your home because of illness, disability, or old age.

   Grammar: Describes a person or animal; it is not used before a noun in the sense of a place. Say 'She is housebound', not 'a housebound house'.

   Patterns

   • be housebound
   • become housebound
   • housebound for weeks

   After her hip operation, she was housebound for almost two months.

   The charity delivers meals to housebound residents in the neighborhood.

   He became housebound when the stairs in his building stopped working.

2. 2adjectivebefore a noun

   Used to describe a situation in which someone must stay at home, often for medical reasons.

   Grammar: Often before nouns like 'patient' or 'condition': 'housebound patients need regular visits'.

   Patterns

   • housebound patient
   • housebound condition

   The nurse visits housebound patients every Tuesday.

   During the snowstorm, even healthy people felt housebound.

Common combinations

housebound patient

The clinic offers home visits for housebound patients.

become housebound

Without a car, many older people become housebound.

housebound for weeks

He was housebound for weeks after the accident.

feel housebound

Working from home all winter made her feel housebound.

Synonyms and how they differ

confined

Confined can mean kept in any small space, such as a room or bed, while housebound specifically means unable to leave the home.

shut-in

Shut-in is an older, sometimes disapproving term for a person who rarely leaves home; housebound is more neutral and medical.

Opposites

Word family

housebound noun

Rare; used to refer to people who are housebound as a group, e.g. 'care for the housebound'.

Commonly confused: housebound or homebound? housebound or bedbound?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “housebound”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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