… hidden pools and much wider creeks each of which homed its cranes …—I. L. Idriess
Hone in vs. Home in: Usage Guide
Hone in is commonly used to mean "to move toward or focus attention on an objective," as in "hone in on a solution," but the use is often regarded as an error. The original and recommended phrase is home in, with home meaning "to move to or toward an objective by following a signal or landmark," as in "an arrow homing in on a target" and in the name of the creature known as the homing pigeon. Confusion between the similar-sounding hone and home likely arose because hone is a more familiar verb, and its meanings of "to sharpen or smooth with a whetstone" and "to make more acute, intense, or effective" can seem apt in the context of zeroing in on an objective. Still, careful writers will want to use home in, or zero in, if they want to avoid criticism.
Noun
Right now his home is a small apartment.
People are concerned about protecting their homes.
They have a second home on the lake.
There's no place like home.
I must have left my notes at home.
She made a good home for her husband and children.
The islands are home to many species of birds.
Can you find homes for these files in your office? Adverb
She called home to say she would be late for dinner.
He's sending money home from a job overseas.
She is on her way home.
It's great to be back home.
I can't wait to come home.
He used a hammer to drive the nail home. Adjective
She has a happy home life.
Please give us your home phone number.
What is your home address?
The team opens its home season in just two weeks.
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Noun
Two men were found dead inside a Long Beach home after one of them exchanged shots with police and sparked a standoff with SWAT officers in a residential neighborhood early Saturday morning, police said.—Los Angeles Times,
18 Oct. 2026 Older households had more of their assets in homes and financial investments.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
17 Oct. 2026
Adverb
Reportedly, an aide in the Oval Office called the head of the library, Anthony Marx, asking if the two leaders could announce that the toys were going home during their news conference.—
Steve Hendrix The Washington Post,
Arkansas Online,
21 Oct. 2026 Set the scene The hotel is located in the town of Lenox, home to a balanced blend of family locals with young tourists sprinkled very sparsely throughout.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
20 Oct. 2026
Adjective
But Mexico — which local bartenders tell me is Chicago’s co-home team — plays England on Sunday in a Sweet 16 matchup that could cause a massive area-wide celebration from Aurora to Cicero to Little Village.—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
5 July 2026 The Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring is a home race for Red Bull Racing, and a quasi-home race for the team's superstar Max Verstappen.—
Matt Reigle Outkick,
FOXNews.com,
27 June 2026
Verb
To make way for what will be the third reservoir to serve the canal, an area of more than 11,000 acres that is currently home to schools, churches, farms and cemeteries will have to be flooded and at least 1,600 residents re-homed.—
Hira Humayun,
CNN Money,
18 Oct. 2026 Tail Town works with Kitten Rescue Los Angeles to home adoptable cats.—
Solvej Schou,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for home
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English hom, hoome "dwelling, building, one's native town or land," going back to Old English hām "landed property, estate, dwelling, house, inhabited place, native land," going back to Germanic *haima- "dwelling" (whence also Old Saxon & Old Frisian hēm "home, dwelling," Middle Dutch heem, heim "dwelling," Old High German heima "dwelling, homeland," Old Norse heimr "abode, land, this world," Gothic haims "village, countryside, [in compounds] home"), of uncertain origin
Note:
A widely accepted etymology, if questionable semantically, sees Germanic *haima- as going back to Indo-European *ḱoi-mo, an o-grade derivative, with a suffix *-mo-, of the verbal base *ḱei- "lie, be at rest." Also from *ḱoi-mo- would be an assumed Greek *koímē or *koîmos "bed," the source of the denominal derivative koimáō, koimân "to put to bed, lay to rest" (see cemetery); further associated are Lithuanian šeimà "family, household members (including servants)," Latvian sàime, Russian Church Slavic sěmĭ "person," sěmija, translating Greek andrápoda "prisoners of war sold as slaves," sěminŭ "slave, household member," Russian sem'já "family," Ukrainian sim'já. (Lithuanian kiẽmas "farmstead, village" and káimas "village" are perhaps related, via a form with a centum outcome of ḱ, or as a loanword from Germanic.) According to an alternative hypothesis, Germanic *haima- goes back to Indo-European *tḱoi̯-mo-, a derivative with *-mo- from Indo-European *tḱei̯- "dwell, inhabit" (in a more traditional representation *ḱþei̯-; see amphictyony). Directly comparable would be Sanskrit kṣémaḥ "habitable," kṣémaḥ or -am (noun) "calm, quiet, safety," which within Sanskrit are direct derivatives from kṣéti "(s/he) dwells." The Baltic and Slavic forms cited above would then be attributable to this form.
Adverb
Middle English hom, going back to Old English hām, probably from accusative of hām "dwelling, home entry 1" (with parallel forms in other Germanic languages)
Hone in vs. Home in: Usage Guide 
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