families
- 1Plural of family.
Many families gathered at the shelter after the flood destroyed their homes.
The charity provides school supplies to low-income families across the county.
Note
The consonant-plus-y spelling rule at work: family drops its final y and takes -ies, as party and city do. Only the countable meanings have this plural: households, kin groups, close-knit circles of friends or colleagues. When family means relatives collectively, or the gay community in slang, it stays uncountable. That is why "they're all family" keeps the singular even when many people are meant.
families is a form of family
family, noun: A group of people closely related by blood, marriage, or adoption, especially parents and their children. Full entry
- Forms
- familyfamilies plural
- Spelling
- family → families: change y to i, add -es
Use it in a sentence
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