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The definition of family

13 Definitions of: family

    1. noun, a) a primary social group consisting of parents and their offspring, the principal function of which is provision for its members b) (as modifier)
    2. noun, one's wife or husband and one's children
    3. noun, one's children, as distinguished from one's husband or wife
    4. noun, a group of persons related by blood; a group descended from a common ancestor. Compare extended family
    5. noun, all the persons living together in one household
    6. noun, any group of related things or beings, esp when scientifically categorized
    7. noun, 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
    8. noun, ecology a group of organisms of the same species living together in a community
    9. noun, a group of historically related languages assumed to derive from one original language
    10. noun, an independent local group of the Mafia
    11. noun, 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
    12. noun, physics the isotopes, collectively, that comprise a radioactive series
    13. noun, in the family way pregnant
    14. Show me some examples of this word: family
    15. Show me the etymology of the word: family
Synonyms: folk (informal), system, race, house, network, relations, people, children, issue, relative And more...
 

From Collins

©HarperCollins 2008. Collins English Dictionary definition of family