mothers-in-law
- 1Plural of mother-in-law.
The support group brought together several mothers-in-law adjusting to their children's marriages.
Many mothers-in-law travel long distances to spend the holidays with their grandchildren.
Note
The plural lands on the head noun, mother, not on the end of the phrase: the in-law part never changes, and the regularized mother-in-laws heard in casual speech is best kept out of careful writing. The same plural serves the apartment and sandwich senses and the dated use for a stepmother. The spicy Caribbean sauce, though, is a mass noun and takes no plural at all.
mothers-in-law is a form of mother-in-law
mother-in-law, noun: A person's mother by marriage: the mother of one's husband or wife. Full entry
- Forms
- mother-in-lawmothers-in-law plural
Use it in a sentence
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