1. One's native land.
2. A state, region, or territory that is closely identified with a particular people or ethnic group.
3. Any of the ten regions designated by South Africa in the 1970s as semiautonomous territorial states for the Black population. The Black homelands were dissolved and reincorporated into South Africa by the 1994 constitution.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.