Search

a 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:
We’re taking the family on vacation next week.
any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins:
to marry into a socially prominent family.
all those persons considered as descendants of a common progenitor.
Chiefly British. approved lineage, especially noble, titled, famous, or wealthy ancestry:
young men of family.
a group of persons who form a household under one head, including parents, children, and servants.
the staff, or body of assistants, of an official:
the office family.
a group of related things or people:
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:
Many hippie communes of the sixties regarded themselves as families.
a group of products or product models made by the same manufacturer or producer.
Biology. the usual major subdivision of an order or suborder in the classification of plants, animals, fungi, etc., usually consisting of several genera.
Slang. a unit of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra operating in one area under a local leader.
Linguistics. the 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.
Compare (def 12), (def 2).
Mathematics.

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.

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:
a family newspaper.
in a / the family way, pregnant.
Contemporary Examples

He also hid a Jewish family in his cellar and saved their lives.
This Week’s Hot Reads: June 18, 2012 Jimmy So June 17, 2012

Neither he nor any of his family will talk on the record or discuss the case.
Inside D.C.’s Socialite Murder Sandra McElwaine September 7, 2011

Israeli journalists Ajrami had never met even called to offer the family their help.
Translating Two Bitter Enemies in Gaza Sarah A. Topol November 23, 2012

The presence of the chicken feet protects and preserves the unseen but nonetheless unbreakable bonds of love and family.
‘Gods of Suburbia’: Dina Goldstein’s Arresting Photo Series on Religion vs. Consumerism Dina Goldstein November 7, 2014

He knew that if we got together as a family, it would happen.
The Stacks: The Neville Brothers Stake Their Claim as Bards of the Bayou John Ed Bradley April 26, 2014

Historical Examples

The women would be more closely bound to the family than the men.
The Truth About Woman C. Gasquoine Hartley

He said “It is Light” and he used the rays of the early sun to gather food for his family.
Ancient Man Hendrik Willem van Loon

A tumbler had no business with a family, but what was a man going to do?
The Hoofer Walter M. Miller

You used to support your family comfortably when you had one.
Brave and Bold Horatio Alger

After a death the friends of the family should call in person inside of a month.
The Etiquette of To-day Edith B. Ordway

noun (pl) -lies

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
(mainly US) 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
(informal) in the family way, pregnant
n.

early 15c., “servants of a household,” from Latin familia “family servants, domestics collectively, the servants in a household,” thus also “members of a household, the estate, property; the household, including relatives and servants,” from famulus “servant,” of unknown origin. The Latin word rarely appears in the sense “parents with their children,” for which domus (see domestic) was used.

In English, sense of “collective body of persons who form one household under one head and one domestic government, including parents, children, and servants, and as sometimes used even lodgers or boarders” [Century Dictionary] is from 1540s. From 1660s as “parents with their children, whether they dwell together or not,” also in a more general sense, “persons closely related by blood, including aunts, uncles, cousins;” and in the most general sense “those who descend from a common progenitor” (1580s). Meaning “those claiming descent from a common ancestor, a house, a lineage” is early 15c. Hence, “any group of things classed as kindred based on common distinguishing characteristics” (1620s); as a scientific classification, between genus and order, from 1753.

I have certainly known more men destroyed by the desire to have wife and child and to keep them in comfort than I have seen destroyed by drink and harlots. [William Butler Yeats, “Autobiography”]

Replaced Old English hiwscipe. As an adjective from c.1600; with the meaning “suitable for a family,” by 1807. Family values first recorded 1966. Phrase in a family way “pregnant” is from 1796. Family circle is 1809; family man “man devoted to wife and children, man inclined to lead a domestic life” is 1856 (earlier it meant “thief,” 1788, from family in a slang sense of “the fraternity of thieves”).

Happy family an assemblage of animals of diverse habits and propensities living amicably, or at least quietly, together in one cage. [Century Dictionary, 1902]

The phrase is attested from 1844.

family fam·i·ly (fām’ə-lē, fām’lē)
n.

A group of blood relatives, especially parents and their children.

A taxonomic category of related organisms ranking below an order and above a genus.

family
(fām’ə-lē)
A group of organisms ranking above a genus and below an order. The names of families end in -ae, a plural ending in Latin. In the animal kingdom, family names end in -idae, as in Canidae (dogs and their kin), while those in the plant kingdom usually end in -aceae, as in Rosaceae (roses and their kin). See Table at taxonomy.

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.)
see:

in a family way
run in the blood (family)