Domestically

How to spell domestically

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce domestically

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does domestically mean?

1. adverbWithin one's own country, as opposed to internationally or abroad.
2. adverbIn a way relating to the home, family, or household duties.

Domestically in a sentence

• The company sells most of its produce domestically rather than exporting it.

• After years of working abroad he settled domestically and took charge of the cooking.

• The band is hugely popular domestically but almost unknown overseas.

• The survey asked how chores are divided domestically between partners.

Where does domestically come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin domus, meaning simply 'house' or 'home', which gave rise to the adjective domesticus, 'belonging to the household'. That Latin adjective passed into French as domestique and entered English in the sixteenth century as 'domestic', first describing things connected with home and family life. The adverb domestically was then built on top of it in the usual English way, by adding the adjective ending -al and the adverb ending -ly. Over time the sense widened from the literal household to the figurative 'household' of a whole nation, which is why we now speak of goods produced domestically rather than imported. The same domus root still hides inside familiar relatives such as 'domicile', 'dome', and even 'dominate', and remembering that root helps fix the single -m- and the -tic- in the spelling.

How the word is built

• domestic (from Latin domesticus: of the household)
• -al (adjective)
• -ly (adverb)