in house

adjective

Belonging to or part of an organization; internal.

“We like to keep our product and process development in house to help protect our intellectual property rights.”

Meanings

adjectivein house (not comparable)

alternative in-house · alternative inhouse

  1. not comparableBelonging to or part of an organization; internal.
adverbin house (not comparable)

alternative in-house · alternative inhouse

  1. not comparableOccurring within an establishment, using existing personnel, facilities, and supplies, as opposed to at some external supplier or customer.

    We like to keep our product and process development in house to help protect our intellectual property rights.

    2 more examples

    All of the Disney World character costumes were developed in house, using materials like rubber for Mickey Mouse's face and crushed velvet for his black fur.

    Max was anticipating paperbacking The Bodley Head's books in house rather than licensing the paperback rights to a third party, like Penguin, which reduced his royalties and might eventually lose him authors to vertical publishers.

    2009, J. Adamson, Max Reinhardt: A Life in Publishing, page 71

Origin

  1. Middle Englishin house
  2. Middle Englishin house
  3. Englishin house

Inherited from Middle English in house.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

in house. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20house

MLA

“in house.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20house. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in house,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20house.

Source: in house on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.