fam·i·ly (f m  -l , fml)n. pl. fam·i·lies 1. a. A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children. b. Two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place. 2. All the members of a household under one roof. 3. A group of persons sharing common ancestry. See Usage Note at collective noun. 4. Lineage, especially distinguished lineage. 5. A locally independent organized crime unit, as of the Cosa Nostra. 6. a. A group of like things; a class. b. A group of individuals derived from a common stock: the family of human beings. 7. Biology A taxonomic category of related organisms ranking below an order and above a genus. A family usually consists of several genera. See Table at taxonomy. 8. Linguistics A group of languages descended from the same parent language, such as the Indo-European language family. 9. Mathematics A set of functions or surfaces that can be generated by varying the parameters of a general equation. 10. Chemistry A group of elements with similar chemical properties. 11. Chemistry A vertical column in the periodic table of elements. adj. 1. Of or having to do with a family: family problems. 2. Being suitable for a family: family movies. [Middle English familie, from Latin familia, household, servants of a household, from famulus, servant.] |
family
Noun
pl -lies
1. a social group consisting of parents and their offspring Related adjective familial
2. one's wife or husband and one's children
3. one's children
4. a group descended from a common ancestor
5. all the people living together in one household
6. any group of related objects or beings: a family of chemicals
7. Biol one of the groups into which an order is divided, containing one or more genera: the cat family
Adjective
1. of or suitable for a family or any of its members: films for a family audience
2. in the family way Informal pregnant [Latin familia]
| family (fm-l) A group of organisms ranking above a genus and below an order. The names of families end in -ae, a plural ending in Latin. In the animal kingdom, family names end in -idae, as in Canidae (dogs and their kin), while those in the plant kingdom usually end in -aceae, as in Rosaceae (roses and their kin). See Table at taxonomy. |
Family an assembly of objects with some common feature; a body of servants in a house; the members of a family. See also clan, set.
Examples: family of curves, 1741; of gladiators; of languages, 1875; of legends; of myths; of servants, 1722; of thieves, 1749; of yews, 1731.
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  family - a social unit living together; "he moved his family to Virginia"; "It was a good Christian household"; "I waited until the whole house was asleep"; "the teacher asked how many people made up his home"broken home - a family in which the parents have separated or divorced conjugal family, nuclear family - a family consisting of parents and their children and grandparents of a marital partner extended family - a family consisting of the nuclear family and their blood relatives foster family - the family of a fosterling foster home - a household in which an orphaned or delinquent child is placed (usually by a social-service agency) menage a trois - household for three; an arrangement where a married couple and a lover of one of them live together while sharing sexual relations social unit, unit - an organization regarded as part of a larger social group; "the coach said the offensive unit did a good job"; "after the battle the soldier had trouble rejoining his unit" |
| 2. |  family - primary social group; parents and children; "he wanted to have a good job before starting a family"man and wife, married couple, marriage - two people who are married to each other; "his second marriage was happier than the first"; "a married couple without love" child, kid - a human offspring (son or daughter) of any age; "they had three children"; "they were able to send their kids to college" parent - a father or mother; one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian | |
| 3. |  family - a collection of things sharing a common attribute; "there are two classes of detergents"grammatical category, syntactic category - (grammar) a category of words having the same grammatical properties substitution class, paradigm - the class of all items that can be substituted into the same position (or slot) in a grammatical sentence (are in paradigmatic relation with one another) aggregation, collection, accumulation, assemblage - several things grouped together or considered as a whole brass family - (music) the family of brass instruments violin family - (music) the family of bowed stringed instruments woodwind family - (music) the family of woodwind instruments stamp - a type or class; "more men of his stamp are needed" sex - either of the two categories (male or female) into which most organisms are divided; "the war between the sexes" declension - a class of nouns or pronouns or adjectives in Indo-European languages having the same (or very similar) inflectional forms; "the first declension in Latin" conjugation - a class of verbs having the same inflectional forms denomination - a class of one kind of unit in a system of numbers or measures or weights or money; "he flashed a fistful of bills of large denominations" histocompatibility complex - a family of fifty or more genes on the sixth human chromosome that code for proteins on the surfaces of cells and that play a role in the immune response superphylum - (biology) a taxonomic group ranking between a phylum and below a class or subclass | |
| 4. |  family - people descended from a common ancestor; "his family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower"people - members of a family line; "his people have been farmers for generations"; "are your people still alive?" homefolk - the people of your home locality (especially your own family); "he wrote his homefolk every day" house - aristocratic family line; "the House of York" dynasty - a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family | |
| 5. |  family - a person having kinship with another or others; "he's kin"; "he's family"affine - (anthropology) kin by marriage | |
| 6. | family - (biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more genera; "sharks belong to the fish family" Bunyaviridae - a large family of arboviruses that affect a wide range of hosts (mainly vertebrates and arthropods) Filoviridae - a family of threadlike RNA viruses that cause diseases in humans and nonhuman primates (monkeys and chimpanzees) Togaviridae - a family of arboviruses carried by arthropods Flaviviridae - a family of arboviruses carried by arthropods Arenaviridae - a family of arborviruses carried by arthropods Rhabdoviridae - a family of arborviruses carried by arthropods Reoviridae - a family of arboviruses carried by arthropods bacteria family - a family of bacteria protoctist family - any of the families of Protoctista Endamoebidae, family Endamoebidae - a large family of endoparasitic amebas that invade the digestive tract fish family - any of various families of fish chordate family - any family in the phylum Chordata bird family - a family of warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings amphibian family - any family of amphibians reptile family - a family of reptiles arthropod family - any of the arthropods mammal family - a family of mammals coelenterate family - a family of coelenterates ctenophore family - a family of ctenophores worm family - a family of worms mollusk family - a family of mollusks family Panorpidae, Panorpidae - a family of insects of the order Mecoptera Bittacidae, family Bittacidae - a family of predacious tropical insects of the order Mecoptera echinoderm family - a family of echinoderms biological science, biology - the science that studies living organisms order - (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more families form family - (biology) an artificial taxonomic category for organisms of which the true relationships are obscure subfamily - (biology) a taxonomic category below a family tribe - (biology) a taxonomic category between a genus and a subfamily genus - (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more species moss family - a family of mosses liliopsid family, monocot family - family of flowering plants having a single cotyledon (embryonic leaf) in the seed dicot family, magnoliopsid family - family of flowering plants having two cotyledons (embryonic leaves) in the seed which usually appear at germination fungus family - includes lichen families plant family - a family of plants fern family - families of ferns and fern allies | |
| 7. |  family - a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activitiesCosa Nostra, Maffia, Mafia - a crime syndicate in the United States; organized in families; believed to have important relations to the Sicilian Mafia | |
| 8. |  family - an association of people who share common beliefs or activities; "the message was addressed not just to employees but to every member of the company family"; "the church welcomed new members into its fellowship"association - a formal organization of people or groups of people; "he joined the Modern Language Association" koinonia - Christian fellowship or communion with God or with fellow Christians; said in particular of the early Christian community |
family
noun 1. relations, people, children, issue, relatives, household, folk (informal) offspring, descendants, brood, kin, nuclear family, progeny, kindred, next of kin, kinsmen, ménage, kith and kin, your nearest and dearest, kinsfolk, your own flesh and blood, ainga N.Z. rellies Austral. (slang)
noun 2. children, kids (informal) offspring, little ones, munchkins (informal), chiefly U.S. littlies Austral. (informal)
noun 3. ancestors, forebears, parentage, forefathers, house, line, race, blood, birth, strain, tribe, sept, clan, descent, dynasty, pedigree, extraction, ancestry, lineage, genealogy, line of descent, stemma, stirps
noun 4. species, group, class, system, order, kind, network, genre, classification, subdivision, subclass >> adjective familial
USAGE Some careful writers insist that a singular verb should always be used with collective nouns such as government, team, family, committee, and class, for example: the class is doing a project on Vikings; the company is mounting a big sales campaign. In British usage, however, a plural verb is often used with a collective noun, especially where the emphasis is on a collection of individual objects or people rather than a group regarded as a unit: the family are all on holiday. The most important thing to remember is never to treat the same collective noun as both singular and plural in the same sentence: the family is well and sends its best wishes or the family are well and send their best wishes, but not the family is well and send their best wishes.
Translations
n family [ˈfӕməli]
1 (singular or plural) a man, his wife and their children These houses were built for families; The (members of the) Smith family are all very athletic; (also adjective ) a family holiday. gesin, familie عائِلَه семейство rodina; rodinný familie; familie- die Familie, Familien... οικογένεια, οικογενειακός familia pere(kond) خانواده perhe famille מִשפָּחָה कुटुम्ब familija, obitelj; obiteljski család; (melléknévként) családi keluarga fjölskylda famiglia 家族 (부모와 자녀로 구성된) 가족 šeima; šeimyninis ģimene; ģimenes- keluarga gezin (kjerne)familie rodzina família familie семья rodina; rodinný družina porodica familj, familje- ครอบครัว aile 家庭 родина, сім'я ماں باپ بھائی بہن پر مشتمل کنبہ gia đình 家庭
2 a group of people related to each other, including cousins, grandchildren etc He comes from a wealthy family; (also adjective ) the family home. familie نَسْل، آل фамилия rodina; rodinný familie; familie- die Familie οικογένεια familia suguvõsa فامیل suku famille מִשפָּחָה परिवार šira obitelj, porodica; obiteljski család; (melléknévként) családi keluarga ættingjar, skyldmenni famiglia 一族 (사촌, 조부모 등의 근친을 포함한) 가족, 일가 šeima, giminė dzimta keluarga familie familie, slekt rodzina, ród família familie род rodina; rodinný rodbina, rodbinski familija familj, släkt ญาติ ๆ aile 家族 родина, рід رشتہ دار gia tộc 家族
3 the children of a man and his wife When I get married I should like a large family. gesin أُسْرَه домочадие rodina familie die Familie οικογένεια familia järeltulijad خانه وار perhe famille יְלָדִים परिवार, गृहस्थ potomstvo, obitelj család keluarga afkvæmi, börn famiglia 子供 자녀 šeimyna (vienas ģimenes) bērni un sieva keluarga gezin barn rodzina família familie дети rodina družina porodica familj ลูก ๆ aile 子女 діти کسی شخص کے بچے اور زوجہ con cái 子女
4 a group of plants, animals, languages etc that are connected in some way In spite of its name, a koala bear is not a member of the bear family. familie, groep فَصيلَه نَباتيَّه أو حَيَوانيَّه род čeleď, druh, třída familie; -familie die Familie οικογένεια (ζώων) familia sugukond تیره heimo famille מִשפָּחָה एक-दूसरे से जुड़े पौधे rod, porodica család keluarga ætt famiglia 科 (생물 분류의 단계인) 과(科) šeima (dzīvnieku, augu) dzimta; (valodu) saime keluarga geslacht slekt, familie rodzina família familie семейство čeľaď rod porodica familj ตระกูล familya, tür 科 родина ایک دوسرے سے تعلق رکھنے والے جانوروں یا زبانوں کا مجموعہ (sinh vật học), (ngôn ngữ học) họ 科
family planning
controlling or limiting the number of children that people have especially by using a means of contraception a family planning clinic. gesinsbeplanning, geboortebeplanning تَنْظيم العائِلَه семейно планиране plánované rodičovství familieplanlægning die Familienplanung οικογενειακός προγραμματισμός planificación familiar pereplaneerimine تنظیم خانواده perhesuunnittelu limitation des naissances תִכנוּן מִשפָּחָה परिवार नियोजन primjena kontracepcije radi ograničenja broja djece családtervezés berencana stjórn/takmörkun á fæðingum controllo delle nascite 家族計画 가족 계획 gimstamumo reguliavimas ģimenes plānošana perancang keluarga geboortenregeling barnebegrensing, familieplanlegging planowanie rodziny planeamento familiar planning familial контроль над рождаемостью plánované rodičovstvo načrtovanje družine planiranje porodice familjeplanering การวางแผนครอบครัว aile planlaması 計劃生育 планування сім'ї خاندانی منصوبہ بندی kế hoạch hoá gia đình 计划生育
family tree
(a plan showing) a person's ancestors and relations. stamboom, geslagsregister شَجَرَة العائِلَه родословно дърво rodokmen stamtræ der Stammbaum οικογενειακό δέντρο árbol genealógico sugupuu شجره نامه sukupuu arbre généalogique אִילָן יוֹחָסִין वंश वृक्ष obiteljsko stablo családfa silsilah ættartala albero genealogico 家系図 가계도 genealogijos medis ciltskoks salah-silah keluarga stamboom stamtre drzewo genealogiczne árvore genealógica arbore genealogic генеалогическое дерево rodokmeň rodovnik porodično stablo stamträd, släktträd แผนภูมิแสดงลำดับเครือญาติของวงศ์ตระกูล soy ağacı 家系圖 родовід شجرئہ نسب sơ đồ gia hệ 家系图
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