family
[noun]
Synonyms:
- relations, folk (informal), household, kin, kith and kin, one's nearest and dearest, one's own flesh and blood, relatives
- clan, dynasty, house, race, tribe
- group, class, genre, network, subdivision, system

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Related Idioms: kith and kin, one's own flesh and blood
Related Words: brood, dynasty, line, stirp, strain, issue, offspring, progeny

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

fam‧i‧ly S1 W1 /ˈfæməli/ noun (plural families)
[Word Family: noun: familiarity ≠ unfamiliarity, family, familiarization; adjective: familiar ≠ unfamiliar, familial; verb: familiarize; adverb: familiarly]
[Date: 1400-1500; Origin: familia 'people living in a house', from famulus 'servant']

1. CLOSELY RELATED GROUP [countable] a group of people who are related to each other, especially a mother, a father, and their children:
Do you know the family next door?
The Webb family still has its farm over there.
[also + plural verb] British English:
The family now live in London.
This house isn’t big enough for a family of seven.

2. ALL YOUR RELATIONS [C,U also + plural verb BrE] all the people you are related to, including those who are now dead:
I’m moving to Detroit because I have some family there.
My family come from Scotland originally.
in sb’s family
That painting has been in our family (=been owned by our family) for 200 years.
Asthma runs in the family (=is common in the family).

3. CHILDREN [countable] children:
Couples with young families wouldn’t want to live here.
They’re getting married next year, and hope to start a family (=have children) straight away.
bring up/raise a family
the problems of bringing up a family on a very low income

4. family size/pack etc a container or package containing a large amount of a product

5. GROUP OF ANIMALS/THINGS [countable] technical a group of related animals, plants, languages etc
the cat/parrot/squirrel etc family
The cat family includes lions and tigers.
Spanish and Italian are part of the Romance language family.

6. she’s/he’s family informal used to emphasize your connection with someone who is related to you

7. in the family way old-fashioned pregnant

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

family
noun
I. group of people related to each other
ADJ. large | old, old-established | land-owning, wealthy, well-to-do | hard-up, low-income, poor tax incentives for low-income families
homeless | close, close-knit We are a very close-knit family and support each other through any crises.
immediate We've only told the immediate family (= the closest relations).
conjugal, nuclear the nuclear family of parents and children
extended maintaining contact with members of his extended family
lone-parent, one-parent, single-parent the difficulties faced by one-parent families
two-parent | adoptive helping emotionally damaged children to find placements with adoptive families
patriarchal | middle-class, working-class, etc. | royal | bereaved a counselling agency to help bereaved families
VERB + FAMILY belong to, be one/part of, come from He belonged to an old-established family. We all knew her so well that we felt she was almost part of the family. Many of our students come from poor families.
marry into She married into a wealthy family.
run in a medical condition which runs in the family
be in This painting has been in our family for generations.
FAMILY + NOUN background, history Do you know anything about her family background? a family history of heart disease
connections, relationships, ties They prefer to stay in their home country because of family ties.
member | life | business | home | commitments The job wouldn't really fit in with my family commitments.
income | doctor | holiday | feud | heirloom | motto | name (= surname) | planning (= controlling the number of children you have by using contraception)
PREP. in a/the ~ These problems occur in all families.
within a/the ~ creating conflict within the family
PHRASES family and friends The support of family and friends is vital.
a member of a family

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

family
II. children
ADJ. large, small | young parents with young families
VERB + FAMILY have I always wanted to have a large family.
start They got married last year and plan to start a family (= have children) soon.
bring up, raise struggling to bring up a family on a low income
feed, support It is difficult for them to earn enough to feed their families.
FAMILY + NOUN size Average family size has decreased since the Victorian era.
man a good family man, completely devoted to his wife and kids

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

family

the whole family
We invited the whole family round.
all the family
This is a game which all the family can enjoy.
somebody's immediate family (=closest relations)
What if one of your immediate family were disabled?
somebody's extended family (=including not only parents and children, but also grandparents, aunts etc)
She gets a lot of help from her extended family.
a large/small family
She came from a large family of seven children.
a one-parent/single-parent family
One in seven families is a one-parent family.
the nuclear family (=a family consisting of a mother, a father, and their children)
Not everyone lives in a typical nuclear family.
close/close-knit family (=spending a lot of time together and supporting each other)
Laura's family are very close.
the Royal family (=the king or queen and their family)
The Royal Family have large estates in Scotland.
the Smith/Jones/Brown etc family
The Smith family are living in temporary accommodation.
a family member/a member of the family
The event was attended by many of his family members, including his children and grandchildren.
somebody's family background
He comes from a stable family background.
a family history
Is there a family history of heart disease?
family life
Some people believe that television is destroying family life.
a family unit
the breakup of the traditional family unit
somebody's family home (=where someone's family live and where they lived as a child)
Her family home is in a village outside Derry.
a family business (=one run by members of a family)
My parents expected me to join the family business.
a family car (=one designed for families with children)
It's a practical family car that is also fun to drive.
a family holiday British English, a family vacation AmE:
Most of our family holidays were spent in the south of France.
a family resemblance (=when members of the same family look like each other)
There's a strong family resemblance between all the sisters.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

family
ˈfæmɪlɪ
See: run in the blood or run in the family , in a family way

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

FAMILY
Forget About Me, I Love You

[TahlilGaran] Acronyms and Abbreviations Dictionary ▲