# family

Pronunciation: US say "FAM-uh-lee" /ˈfæ.m(ə.)li/; UK say "FAM-i-lee" /ˈfæ.m(ɪ.)li/

## Noun

1. A group of people closely related by blood, marriage, or adoption, especially parents and their children.
   - Simple: A group of people who are related, especially parents and their children.
   - _The family renting the flat upstairs is a single dad with two teenage daughters._
   - _After the move, our family settled into a quieter neighborhood._
2. A wide group of people related to one another by blood or marriage, including relatives beyond the immediate household.
   - Simple: A larger group of relatives, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
   - _Every summer the whole family rents a lake house for a week-long reunion._
   - _Holidays at her family's place mean dozens of cousins, aunts, and uncles._
3. A group of people, often close-knit, who are bound together by blood, marriage, friendship, law, or custom, particularly those who live or work together.
   - Simple: A close group of people who feel connected, like those who live or work closely together.
   - _After a decade on the same crew, the firefighters considered themselves a family._
   - _The little theater company runs like a family, sharing meals and quarrels alike._
4. The children someone has, or a couple have together, considered collectively rather than as including the parents.
   - Simple: The children of a person or a couple, thought of as a group apart from the parents.
   - _He took a job closer to home so he could spend more time with his wife and young family._
   - _The couple raised a family of three boys in a two-bedroom apartment._
5. A category in the scientific classification of living things, ranking below order and above genus.
   - Simple: A group of related living things, bigger than a genus but smaller than an order.
   - _Biologists place dogs, wolves, and foxes in the family Canidae._
   - _The grass family includes wheat, rice, and corn._
6. A group of things classed together because they share important features or a common origin, such as languages or musical instruments.
   - Simple: A group of similar or related things, such as languages or musical instruments.
   - _Designers chose typefaces from a single family for a consistent look._
   - _Carbon forms a large family of compounds with hydrogen._
7. A person's line of descent or ancestry, especially an honorable or noble lineage.
   - Simple: The line of ancestors a person comes from, especially a noble one.
   - _The duke traced his family back to the eleventh century._
   - _Marrying into such a distinguished family raised his social standing._
9. In gay slang, the gay community, thought of as a close-knit group of people who belong together. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In gay slang, the gay community, seen as one close group of people.
   - _There's plenty of family on the night shift at the hospital, if you know where to look._
   - _Back when it was risky to be openly gay, the corner bar was one of the few places the family could gather safely._
10. A group of animals related to one another, usually a mother, or a male and female that have paired up, along with their offspring.
   - Simple: A group of animals that are related, usually a mother or a mother and father with their babies.
   - _Biologists followed an otter family for months as the pups learned to hunt along the riverbank._
   - _Each spring the swan families on the lake glide past with their gray cygnets trailing behind._

## Adjective

8. Suitable for both children and adults, and appropriate for audiences of all ages.
   - Simple: Okay for both kids and grown-ups to watch or enjoy.
   - _The studio aimed for a family film that parents and children would both enjoy._
   - _They marketed the show as family entertainment, clean enough for young viewers._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A collection of sets, especially of subsets of a given set, considered together.

## Origin

Latin familia ("a household") gave Late Middle English famylye. It pushed out hīred, the native Old English word, and familia is its doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/family (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).