Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for extended family

extended family

[ ik-sten-did fam-uh-lee, fam lee ]

noun

  1. a kinship group consisting of a family nucleus and various relatives, as grandparents, usually living in one household and functioning as a larger unit. Compare immediate family ( def ), nuclear family ( def ).
  2. (loosely) one's family conceived of as including aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, and sometimes close friends and colleagues.


extended family

noun

  1. sociol anthropol a social unit that contains the nuclear family together with blood relatives, often spanning three or more generations
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


extended family

  1. A type of family in which relatives in addition to parents and children (such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) live in a single household. A nuclear family forms the core of an extended family.


Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of extended family1

First recorded in 1940–45
Discover More

Compare Meanings

How does extended family compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

Discover More

Example Sentences

After my father’s death, our large extended family rallied around my mom, brother and me, pitching in with child care so she could attend graduate school.

I do not want my friends or extended family to know about this choice.

I did not live by extended family when I was a child nor did I have family nearby when raising my own.

Many people have sought out at-home DNA testing kits as a way to learn more about their ancestors and their extended family trees.

Greg served in the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office for 27 years, and several extended family members in the past few generations have served in law enforcement.

The third suspect, an 18-year-old named Hamyd Mourad, who turned himself in, is part of the same extended family.

Sabrina quickly realized that none of her extended family members were planning to write back to her.

During August and September, UNICEF had helped 700 children find a parent or extended family or placed a child in foster care.

It may not be a traditional family,” he says, “but it is an extended family.

He attempted to join his extended family in France before being turned away twice trying to get to Paris.

The extended family groupings in terms of matrilocal residence or centered around a sibling group are amorphous but flexible.

In this two-field system, land was held by peasants in units designed to support a single extended family.

The family in the narrower sense, the children of one father in one house, grew into a more extended family, the gens.

Advertisement

Related Words

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


extended coverageextended forecast