home-bred

home-bred

The family's home-bred cat sleeps on the sunny windowsill.

Definition

Adjective - Raised or produced at home: "home-bred" describes something, typically an animal, that has been bred or raised in one's own home or domestic environment, as opposed to being obtained from an outside source.

Usage Examples
  • (Chickens raised on his own farm.)
  • (Kittens born and raised in her house.)
  • (Vegetables grown in one's own garden.)
Advanced Usage
  • "Home-bred talent": a person whose skills or abilities were developed within a local or domestic context, rather than imported from elsewhere.

    • The company values home-bred talent, so they train their own employees. (Employees developed internally, not hired from outside.)
  • "Home-bred tradition": a custom or practice that originates within a particular family or community.

    • Their home-bred tradition of baking bread every Sunday has been passed down for generations. (A tradition that started in their own home.)
Variants and Related Words
  • Home-breeding (n): the practice of breeding animals at home.

    • Home-breeding ensures that the animals are well cared for. (The act of raising animals domestically.)
  • Home-bred (adj) (alternative spelling): sometimes written without a hyphen as "homebred."

    • The homebred puppies were all healthy. (The same meaning as "home-bred.")
Synonyms
  • Domestic: relating to the home or family; not wild or foreign.
  • Homegrown: grown or produced at home (often used for plants, but also figuratively for people or ideas).
Related Idioms
  • "Home-bred and buttered": a rare, informal phrase meaning something that is familiar or comfortable because it comes from one's own home.

    • He prefers home-bred and buttered recipes over fancy restaurant dishes. (Recipes he is used to from his own home.)
  • "Bred in the bone": a quality or habit that is deeply ingrained from childhood.

    • Her love of gardening is home-bred and bred in the bone. (A natural result of being raised at home.)