housebroken

adjective

house·​bro·​ken ˈhau̇s-ˌbrō-kən How to pronounce housebroken (audio)
1
: trained to excretory habits acceptable in indoor living
used of a household pet
2
: made tractable or polite

Examples of housebroken in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web One housebroken joey would watch television in their living room. Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2021 The country’s leading art educator was the mediocre German painter Anton Raphael Mengs, who promulgated a sort of housebroken neoclassicism. Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2020 Dogs supposedly trained to detect and respond to potentially life-threatening blood sugar levels in people with diabetes were, in reality, often untrained, un-housebroken puppies with hefty pricetags—currently set at $25,000. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 May 2018 Sherman, discarded by the Seahawks, arrives with bad-puppy baggage — old, banged-up, a rep for being not quite housebroken. Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Mar. 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'housebroken.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of housebroken was in 1885

Dictionary Entries Near housebroken

Cite this Entry

“Housebroken.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/housebroken. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

housebroken

adjective
house·​bro·​ken -ˌbrō-kən How to pronounce housebroken (audio)
: trained in habits of eliminating bodily waste that are acceptable in indoor living
a housebroken dog

Medical Definition

housebroken

adjective
house·​bro·​ken -ˌbrō-kən How to pronounce housebroken (audio)
: trained to excretory habits acceptable in indoor living
used of a household pet

More from Merriam-Webster on housebroken

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