family
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A group of people who are closely related to one another.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
famuhleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfæməli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A group of people who are closely related to one another (by blood, marriage or adoption); kin; in particular, a set of parents and their children; an immediate family.
A nuclear family: a mother and father who are married and cohabiting and their child or children.
Any group or aggregation of things classed together as kindred or related from possessing in common characteristics which distinguish them from other things of the same order.
People descended from a common ancestor
“His family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower.”
uncountable
Lineage, especially honorable or noble lineage.
A collection of things sharing a common attribute
adjective
Suitable for children and adults.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A group of people who are closely related to one another (by blood, marriage or adoption); kin; in particular, a set of parents and their children; an immediate family.
Used this way, family is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use family
- “The message was addressed not just to employees but to every member of the company family.”noun
- “His family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower.”noun
- “He moved his family to Virginia.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Widely distributed herbs and shrubs and trees.
Alternative names for the family comprising the New Zealand wrens.
Surgeonfishes.
Mites.
Hawks.
A family of trees and shrubs of order Sapindales including the maples.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Relating to or having the characteristics of a family.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: group of people who are closely related to one another (by blood
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “family” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.