housing

housing — noun

1. buildings such as houses and apartments where people live, especially when discu

1.nounB1
Definition

buildings such as houses and apartments where people live, especially when discussing their cost, quality, or how many are available.

Example

The city is facing a serious housing shortage as more young families move in.

collocation: housing shortage

Shirin found affordable housing through a government programme for first-time buyers.

collocation: affordable housing

Common collocations
  • affordable housing
  • student housing
  • public housing
  • housing crisis
  • housing shortage
  • housing market
  • housing prices
  • housing conditions
  • rental housing
  • low-income housing
Synonyms
  • accommodation

    broader term that includes temporary places like hotels; more common in British English

  • shelter

    emphasises protection from the elements; often used for emergency or basic living spaces

  • homes

    more personal and emotional in tone; focuses on where people live rather than the building stock

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

housing + noun (housing crisis, housing market)

adjective + housing (affordable housing, student housing)

housing + preposition + noun (housing for families)

Usage Note

Uncountable in this sense — you cannot say 'a housing' to mean a single house. Use 'a house' or 'an apartment' for a specific dwelling. Frequently paired with adjectives describing availability, cost, or quality (affordable, public, student, low-income).

Common Mistakes

I bought a new housing last year.
I bought a new house last year.
housing is uncountable and refers to buildings as a category; use 'house' or 'home' for a single unit.

2. a hard outer case that fits around a machine, engine, or mechanical part to prot

2.nounB2
Definition

a hard outer case that fits around a machine, engine, or mechanical part to protect it and keep its pieces in place.

Example

A small fan inside the computer housing helps keep the processor cool.

collocation: computer housing

The mechanic removed the outer housing of the engine to look for cracks.

collocation: engine / outer housing

Common collocations
  • engine housing
  • outer housing
  • protective housing
  • plastic housing
  • metal housing
  • computer housing
  • speaker housing
  • fan housing
  • gear housing
  • bearing housing
Synonyms
  • casing

    very close in meaning, equally common in technical writing

  • cover

    less specific; can refer to any lid or protective layer, not just a rigid case

  • enclosure

    suggests a larger surrounding structure that fully contains the component

Grammar Patterns

noun + housing (engine housing, fan housing)

material + housing (plastic housing, metal housing)

the housing of + noun (the housing of the pump)

Usage Note

Countable — each machine part or device has its own housing. Common in engineering, automotive repair, and electronics contexts. Often specifies the material (plastic housing, aluminium housing) or the part it encloses (gear housing, bearing housing).

Common Mistakes

The engine housing are made of metal.
The engine housing is made of metal.
despite referring to a cover, housing in this sense is singular when talking about one unit.

Word family

  • house
    nounA1
  • house
    verbB2
  • housed
    adjectiveB2
  • household
    nounB1
  • household
    adjectiveB1
  • housewife
    nounB1
  • housework
    nounA2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Accommodation is the broadest of these terms, covering any place where people live or stay, including hotels and hostels, making it the most natural choice for travel contexts. Shelter emphasises protection from weather and danger, and is commonly used for emergency or temporary housing. Lodging specifically means a short-term place to sleep, such as a hotel room or a rented room in someone's home. Dwelling is a formal, legal-sounding word for any place where someone lives, appearing more in official documents than in everyday conversation. Housing stands apart because it treats buildings as a social or policy issue — the supply, cost, and quality of homes for a population. You would say 'the housing crisis' or 'affordable housing' rather than 'the accommodation crisis' or 'affordable dwelling', because housing is the term used when discussing whole systems and markets.

accommodationshelterlodgingdwelling

Common collocations

Nouns

  • housing crisis
  • housing market
  • housing policy
  • housing shortage
  • housing supply
  • housing costs

Phrases

  • housing of ... (mechanical sense)
  • housing around ... (mechanical sense)

Prepositions

  • housing for
  • housing in

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Housing comes from the Old English word 'hūs' (house) combined with the suffix '-ing', which forms nouns describing an action or its result. Originally it referred to the act of providing shelter or a place to live. By the 1500s it was also used for any protective covering that 'houses' a mechanical part, a meaning that grew with industrial machinery in the 1800s.