habitation

habitation, dwelling, abode, residence, domicile, home, house are comparable when they mean the place where one lives. All may apply to an actual structure or part of a structure in which one lives, and all but the last also may apply to the place (as a farm, a village, or a nation) where such a structure is situated.

Habitation suggests permanency of occupancy and may apply to a building or to an inhabited place

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the properties are much smaller than they are in the pastoral region, and the habitations are scattered— P. E. James

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Shakespeare . . . chose Verona for her habitation because of its agreeably sounding name— Bennett

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what did it matter where the body found itself so long as the soul had its serene habitations— W. J. Locke

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Dwelling typically refers to a building or shelter for a single family or individual, often as opposed to a building used in business

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laboriously dug a cave for his dwelling and built a floating garden of logs upon which he raised vegetables— Amer. Guide Series: Me.

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joy of heav'n, to earth come down; fix in us Thy humble dwelling, all Thy faithful mercies crown— Wesley

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Abode may apply to a building, but more often it designates a place as a seat or center of occupancy

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the view that other planets may be the abode of life

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Tara, the abode of the high king of Ireland— H. O. Taylor

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her home ever to a certain extent had been an abode of the arts— Osbert Sitwell

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Distinctively, abode may stress transience

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the traveler reached his night abode and was ascending the stairs— Upton Sinclair

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Residence in reference to a building may be somewhat formal and convey a suggestion of dignity and substance

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the architects . . . devoting their talents to designing homes for the people as well as residences for the rich— Canadian Jour, of Economics & Political Science

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the houses are too superior to be called villas; the house agents call them residences— Susan Gillespie

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But residence also may refer to an area or place (as a town or state) where one lives and in such use carries specific legal implications (as of actual occupancy or intention to remain)

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no one may vote in a given election in more than one place; and this place must be the voter's legal residence, however little of his time he may actually spend there— Ogg & Ray

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the term "residence" means the place of general abode; the place of general abode of a person means his principal, actual dwelling place in fact, without regard to intent— U. S. Code

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Domicile in reference to a building carries no special connotations

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grandfather's domicile was considered an architectural curiosity; it was an oversized log cabin with a second story reached by an outside staircase— Barkley

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In wider reference to a place it may be quite neutral

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with the advance of astronomy, the domicile of the Deity had been transposed to the unknown center of the universe— S. F. Mason

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or it may have very definite legal implications (as of being the seat of one's principal and permanent home and therefore the place where one has a settled connection for such important legal purposes as determination of civil status and jurisdiction to impose personal judgments and taxes) in which it is often specifically contrasted with residence

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the term "domicile" has been defined by the courts of one state as follows: "The domicile of a person is where he has his permanent home and principal establishment, to which, whenever he is absent, he intends to return— Ackerman

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domicile is not to be confused with residence. It is of a far more permanent nature, as where a man establishes a home in a jurisdiction with the intention of remaining there more or less permanently. The six weeks' residence in Reno, with which we are all familiar, does not establish legal domicile if the residence is solely for the purpose of obtaining a divorce— Payton

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Home, like the foregoing terms, is used either of a structure or a place of residence or sometimes of origin

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had lived in New York for years but still thought of Georgia as his home

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built a home in the new section of town

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but of all these terms home distinctively conveys the notion of one's dwelling as the seat and center of family life and the focus of domestic affections

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without hearts there is no home— Byron

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some women can make a truer home of a shanty than others can of a mansion

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Unlike the other terms house is not used of a place as distinct from a structure; basically it applies to a building used or intended for use as a dwelling place and, especially as compared with home, is a very general and neutral term; thus, a landlord's house may become the home of a tenant

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a speculative builder of houses

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