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Glite Dictionary
😊 Comfortable place 🏠 In your house ⚽ On home field ☕ A social event
at home

at home

10 9.4
A formal social meeting at a person's home in the afternoon
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : recepción

Examples

  • What do they mean by having a funeral at home?

    Fiction book (1990)

  • You are requested to make yourself at home.

    The Da Vinci Code (2006)

  • Children must see books as friends and be surrounded by and immersed in print at home and at school.

    Academic text (2014)

  • I've done my civic duty, and I plan to spend the next two weeks at home.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • At home, I read more Plato, some Aristotle, and above all, a lot of Kant.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The annual charity event was held at home, allowing guests to enjoy the beautiful garden.

  • Everyone was invited to the tea party at home for an afternoon of delightful conversation.

  • The writer hosted a book reading at home, where friends gathered to celebrate her latest release.

Synonyms

open house
vsat home
35 2.7

An event when people are invited to visit and feel welcome

is a formal private reception in the afternoon not an open visiting event
soiree
vsat home
  • Formal
23 7.5

An evening party at someone's home

is a formal afternoon reception rather than an evening party
house party
vsat home
  • Informal
18 1.9

A party at someone's home where guests sometimes stay overnight

is a formal afternoon gathering not a casual overnight event

Antonyms

outdoors
80 1.0

In the open air, not inside a building

How Formal

cathedral
6.6
church
∞ 1.0
funeral parlor
  • US
11 3.4
at home
  • Archaic
10 9.4

Surface Forms

at home singular

Morphology

at + home

The literal parts 'at' + 'home' clearly evoke location in or belonging to one's house, and the MWE's event sense plausibly arises by metonymy (a gathering held at someone's home). However, the shift from location to a noun meaning 'a formal reception' is historical and not fully predictable for an average B1 learner who knows the constituents, so prior exposure is likely needed to recover the specific social-gathering sense.

Etymology

The noun at home began long ago when hosts wrote 'at home' on cards to show they were ready to receive visitors at their home, and people soon used the words for the visit itself. So an at home was a short social visit in the afternoon.