housebroken
adjective
house·bro·ken
ˈhau̇s-ˌbrō-kən 
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
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
Dictionary Entries Near housebroken
Cite this Entry
“Housebroken.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/housebroken. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
housebroken
adjective
house·bro·ken
-ˌbrō-kən
: 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
: trained to excretory habits acceptable in indoor living
—used of a household pet
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share