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family
[fam-uh-lee, fam-lee]
noun
plural
familiesa basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not.
the traditional family.
a social unit consisting of one or more adults together with the children they care for.
a single-parent family.
the children of one person or one couple collectively.
We want a large family.
the spouse and children of one person.
I'm taking the family on vacation next week.
any group of people closely related by blood or marriage, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins.
to marry into a socially prominent family.
all those people considered as descendants of a common progenitor.
the Tudor family of England.
Chiefly British.Ģżapproved lineage, especially noble, titled, famous, or wealthy ancestry.
young men of family.
a group of people who form a household under one head, including parents, children, servants, etc.
the staff, or body of assistants, of an official.
the presidential family.
a group of people or things that are related by common characteristics, features, or properties.
the family of romantic poets; the halogen family of elements.
a group of people who are generally not blood relations but who share common attitudes, interests, or goals and, frequently, live together: Iām not in contact with my relatives, so my friends are my family.
Many hippie communes of the sixties regarded themselves as families.
Iām not in contact with my relatives, so my friends are my family.
a group of people who are considered to be united in a common occupation or enterprise.
Our volunteers are an important part of our hospital family.
an animal or animals with their young.
There goes a duck family crossing the road.
a group of products or product models made by the same manufacturer or producer.
Chevrolet's family of cars.
Biology.Ģżthe usual major subdivision of an order or suborder in the classification of plants, animals, fungi, etc., usually consisting of several genera.
Slang.Ģża unit of an organized crime syndicate, especially the Mafia or Cosa Nostra, operating in one area under a local leader.
Linguistics.Ģżthe largest category into which languages related by common origin can be classified with certainty.
Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Austronesian are the most widely spoken families of languages.
Mathematics.Ģż
a given class of solutions of the same basic equation, differing from one another only by the different values assigned to the constants in the equation.
a class of functions or the like defined by an expression containing a parameter.
a set.
adjective
of, relating to, or characteristic of a family.
a family trait.
belonging to or used by a family.
a family automobile; a family room.
suitable or appropriate for adults and children.
a family amusement park.
not containing obscene language.
The students made a game of looking up swearwords during library time, so the librarian is investing in a new set of family dictionaries.
family
/ ĖfƦmÉŖlÉŖ, ĖfƦmlÉŖ /
noun
a primary social group consisting of parents and their offspring, the principal function of which is provision for its members
( as modifier )
family quarrels
a family unit
one's wife or husband and one's children
one's children, as distinguished from one's husband or wife
a group of persons related by blood; a group descended from a common ancestor Compare extended family
all the persons living together in one household
any group of related things or beings, esp when scientifically categorized
biology any of the taxonomic groups into which an order is divided and which contains one or more genera. Felidae (cat family) and Canidae (dog family) are two families of the order Carnivora
ecology a group of organisms of the same species living together in a community
a group of historically related languages assumed to derive from one original language
an independent local group of the Mafia
maths a group of curves or surfaces whose equations differ from a given equation only in the values assigned to one or more constants in each curve
a family of concentric circles
physics the isotopes, collectively, that comprise a radioactive series
informalĢżpregnant
family
A group of organisms ranking above a genus and below an order. The names of families end in āa±š, a plural ending in Latin. In the animal kingdom, family names end in āi»å²¹±š, as in Canidae (dogs and their kin), while those in the plant kingdom usually end in āa³¦±š²¹±š, as in Rosaceae (roses and their kin).
See Table at taxonomy
family
In biology, the classification lower than an order and higher than a genus. Lions, tigers, cheetahs, and house cats belong to the same biological family. Human beings belong to the biological family of hominids. (See Linnean classification.)
Grammar Note
Other 51³Ō¹Ļ Forms
- antifamily adjective
- interfamily adjective
51³Ō¹Ļ History and Origins
51³Ō¹Ļ History and Origins
Origin of family1
Idioms and Phrases
Example Sentences
Still, the sweeps have weighed heavily on his family.
It pitched a policy of "discounted" international calls to families with members serving outside the US in the military.
She and her family have now left their home to stay in an area where there are no known government buildings.
Mr Boelter, who police said researched the victims and their families beforehand, allegedly had planned for a larger scale attack, which police thwarted.
As a community and cultural center of Boyle Heights, Mariachi Plaza would be an obvious place for families to gather on Fatherās Day.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Ā© Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American HeritageĀ® Idioms Dictionary copyright Ā© 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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