Definition of Family

1. Noun. A social unit living together. "The teacher asked how many people made up his home"


2. Noun. Primary social group; parents and children. "He wanted to have a good job before starting a family"
Exact synonyms: Family Unit
Generic synonyms: Clan, Kin, Kin Group, Kindred, Kinship Group, Tribe
Specialized synonyms: Couple, Match, Mates, Man And Wife, Marriage, Married Couple
Specialized synonyms: Bronte Sisters, Marx Brothers
Member holonyms: Child, Kid, Parent, Sib, Sibling
Derivative terms: Familial

3. Noun. A collection of things sharing a common attribute. "There are two classes of detergents"

4. Noun. People descended from a common ancestor. "His family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower"

5. Noun. A person having kinship with another or others. "He's family"
Exact synonyms: Kin, Kinsperson
Specialized synonyms: Affine
Generic synonyms: Relation, Relative
Derivative terms: Familial, Kin, Kinship

6. Noun. (biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more genera. "Sharks belong to the fish family"

7. Noun. A loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities.
Exact synonyms: Crime Syndicate, Mob, Syndicate
Generic synonyms: Gangdom, Gangland, Organized Crime
Specialized synonyms: Cosa Nostra, Maffia, Mafia
Derivative terms: Mobster

8. Noun. An association of people who share common beliefs or activities. "The church welcomed new members into its fellowship"
Exact synonyms: Fellowship
Generic synonyms: Association
Specialized synonyms: Koinonia
Derivative terms: Fellow

Definition of Family

1. n. The collective body of persons who live in one house, and under one head or manager; a household, including parents, children, and servants, and, as the case may be, lodgers or boarders.

Definition of Family

1. Noun. A father, mother and their sons and daughters; also called ''nuclear family''. ¹

2. Noun. A group of people related by blood, marriage, law, or custom. ¹

3. Noun. A kin, tribe; also called ''extended family''. ¹

4. Noun. (countable biology taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below order and above genus; a taxon at that rank. ¹

5. Noun. A group of people who live together, or one that is similar to one that is related by blood, marriage, law, or custom, or members of one's intimate social group. ¹

6. Noun. Any group or aggregation of things classed together as kindred or related from possessing in common characteristics which distinguish them from other things of the same order. ¹

7. Noun. (countable music) A group of instrument having the same basic method of tone production. ¹

8. Noun. (countable linguistics) A group of languages believed to have descended from the same ancestral language. ¹

9. Noun. (non-gloss definition Used attributively.) ¹

10. Adjective. Suitable for children and adults. ¹

11. Adjective. Conservative, traditional. ¹

12. Adjective. (slang) Homosexual. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Family

1. a group of persons related by blood or marriage [n -LIES]

Medical Definition of Family

1. A taxonomic classification between genus and order. (09 Oct 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Family

familiarnesses
familiars
familiary
familicidal
familicide
familicides
families
familism
familisms
familist
familisteries
familistery
familistic
familistical
famils
family-size
family Acanthaceae
family Acanthisittidae
family Acanthuridae
family Acaridae
family Accipitridae
family Aceraceae
family Acipenseridae
family Acrididae
family Actinidiaceae
family Actinomycetaceae
family Adelgidae
family Adiantaceae
family Aegypiidae

Literary usage of Family

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. John Sherman's Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet by John Sherman (1895)
"THE family name of Sherman is, no doubt, of Saxon origin. It is very common along the Rhine, and in different parts of the German Empire. ..."

2. History of the English Language by Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury (1894)
"CHAPTER I. THE INDO-EUROPEAN family. i. The English language belongs to the Teutonic branch of the Indo-European family of tongues. By a family of languages ..."

3. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography by Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1883)
"Thomas Butler (father of the family) was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, April 6,, ... The family then emigrated to Cumberland Valley, settling at Carlisle, ..."

4. The History of the English Language by Oliver Farrar Emerson (1894)
"CHAPTER I. THE INDO-EUROPEAN family.. The English language belongs to the Teutonic branch of the Indo-European family of tongues. By a family ot languages ..."

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