Family

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: fam=i=ly

CIDE DICTIONARY

Family, n. [L. familia, fr. famulus servant; akin to Oscan famel servant, cf. faamat he dwells, Skr. dhāman house, fr. dhāto set, make, do: cf. F. famille. Cf. Do, v. t., Doom, Fact, Feat.].

•  The collective body of persons who live in one house, and under one head or manager; a household, including parents, children, and servants, and, as the case may be, lodgers or boarders.  [1913 Webster]
•  The group comprising a husband and wife and their dependent children, constituting a fundamental unit in the organization of society.  [1913 Webster]

  "The welfare of the family underlies the welfare of society."  [1913 Webster]
•  Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe, clan, or race; kindred; house; as, the human family; the family of Abraham; the father of a family.  [1913 Webster]

  "Go ! and pretend your family is young."  [1913 Webster]
•  Course of descent; genealogy; line of ancestors; lineage.  [1913 Webster]
•  Honorable descent; noble or respectable stock; as, a man of family.  [1913 Webster]
•  A group of kindred or closely related individuals; as, a family of languages; a family of States; the chlorine family.  [1913 Webster]
•  A group of organisms, either animal or vegetable, related by certain points of resemblance in structure or development, more comprehensive than a genus, because it is usually based on fewer or less pronounced points of likeness. In zoölogy a family is less comprehesive than an order; in botany it is often considered the same thing as an order.  [1913 Webster]

Family circle. See under Circle. -- Family man. (a) A man who has a family; esp., one who has a wife and children living with him and dependent upon him. (b) A man of domestic habits. “The Jews are generally, when married, most exemplary family men.” Mayhew. -- Family of curves or Family of surfaces (Geom.), a group of curves or surfaces derived from a single equation. -- In a family way, like one belonging to the family. “Why don't we ask him and his ladies to come over in a family way, and dine with some other plain country gentlefolks?” Thackeray. -- In the family way, pregnant. [Colloq. euphemism]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Family, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a set of parents and children, or of relations, living together or not.
2 a the members of a household, esp. parents and their children. b a person's children. c (attrib.) serving the needs of families (family butcher).
3 a all the descendants of a common ancestor. b a race or group of peoples from a common stock.
4 all the languages ultimately derived from a particular early language, regarded as a group.
5 a brotherhood of persons or nations united by political or religious ties.
6 a group of objects distinguished by common features.
7 Math. a group of curves etc. obtained by varying one quantity.
8 Biol. a group of related genera of organisms within an order in taxonomic classification.

Idiom

family allowance Brit. a former name for child benefit. family credit (or income supplement) (in the UK) a regular payment by the State to a family with an income below a certain level. Family Division (in the UK) a division of the High Court dealing with adoption, divorce, etc. family man a man having a wife and children, esp. one fond of family life. family name a surname. family planning birth control. family tree a chart showing relationships and lines of descent. in the family way colloq. pregnant.

Etymology

ME f. L familia household f. famulus servant

THESAURUS

Family

affiliation, agnate, ancestors, ancestry, animal kingdom, antonomasia, apparentation, ashram, binomial nomenclature, biosystematics, biosystematy, biotype, birth, blood, blood relation, blood relative, bloodline, body, branch, breed, brood, caste, children, clan, clannish, clansman, class, classification, cognate, collateral, collateral relative, colony, common ancestry, commonwealth, commune, community, connections, consanguinean, consanguinity, deme, derivation, descendants, descent, diphyletic, direct, direct line, distaff side, distant relation, division, dynasty, economic class, enate, endogamous group, ethnic, extended family, extraction, family tree, female line, filiation, flesh, flesh and blood, folk, folks, forebears, forefathers, fruit, genealogical, genealogy, genetic, genotype, genre, gens, gentile, gentilic, genus, german, get, glossology, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, group, hearth, heirs, home, homefolks, hostages to fortune, house, household, inheritors, issue, kids, kin, kind, kindred, kinfolk, kingdom, kinnery, kinsfolk, kinship group, kinsman, kinsmen, kinswoman, kith and kin, line, line of descent, lineage, lineal, little ones, male line, matriclan, menage, moiety, nation, national, near relation, new generation, next of kin, nomenclature, nuclear family, offspring, onomastics, onomatology, order, orismology, parentage, patriclan, pedigree, people, phratria, phratry, phyle, phyletic, phylogenetic, phylum, place-names, place-naming, plant kingdom, polyonymy, posterity, progenitors, progeny, race, racial, relations, relatives, rising generation, section, seed, sept, series, set, settlement, sib, sibling, side, social class, society, sons, spear kin, spear side, species, spindle kin, spindle side, stem, stirp, stirps, stock, strain, subcaste, subclass, subdivision, subfamily, subgenus, subkingdom, suborder, subspecies, subtribe, succession, superclass, superfamily, superorder, superspecies, sword side, systematics, taxonomy, terminology, toponymy, totem, totemic, treasures, tribal, tribe, tribesman, trinomialism, type, uterine kin, variety, younglings, youngsters

ROGET THESAURUS

Family

Consanguinity

N consanguinity, relationship, kindred, blood, parentage, filiation, affiliation, lineage, agnation, connection, alliance, family connection, family tie, ties of blood, nepotism, kinsman, kinfolk, kith and kin, relation, relative, connection, sibling, sib, next of kin, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, cousin, cousin- german, first cousin, second cousin, cousin once removed, cousin twice removed, ear relation, distant relation, brother, sister, one's own flesh and blood, family, fraternity, brotherhood, sisterhood, cousinhood, race, stock, generation, sept, stirps, side, strain, breed, clan, tribe, nation, related, akin, consanguineous, of the blood, family, allied, collateral, cognate, agnate, connate, kindred, affiliated, fraternal, intimately related, nearly related, closely related, remotely related, distantly related, allied, german, consanguinity, relationship, kindred, blood, parentage, filiation, affiliation, lineage, agnation, connection, alliance, family connection, family tie, ties of blood, nepotism, kinsman, kinfolk, kith and kin, relation, relative, connection, sibling, sib, next of kin, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, cousin, cousin- german, first cousin, second cousin, cousin once removed, cousin twice removed, ear relation, distant relation, brother, sister, one's own flesh and blood, family, fraternity, brotherhood, sisterhood, cousinhood, race, stock, generation, sept, stirps, side, strain, breed, clan, tribe, nation, related, akin, consanguineous, of the blood, family, allied, collateral, cognate, agnate, connate, kindred, affiliated, fraternal, intimately related, nearly related, closely related, remotely related, distantly related, allied, german.

Continuity

N continuity, consecution, consecutiveness, succession, round, suite, progression, series, train chain, catenation, concatenation, scale, gradation, course, ceaselessness, constant flow, unbroken extent, procession, column, retinue, cortege, cavalcade, rank and file, line of battle, array, pedigree, genealogy, lineage, race, ancestry, descent, family, house, line, line of ancestors, strain, rank, file, line, row, range, tier, string, thread, team, suit, colonnade, continuous, continued, consecutive, progressive, gradual, serial, successive, immediate, unbroken, entire, linear, in a line, in a row, uninterrupted, unintermitting, unremitting, unrelenting (perseverence), perennial, evergreen, constant, continuously, seriatim, in a line, in succession, in turn, running, gradually, step by step, gradatim, at a stretch, in file, in column, in single file, in Indian file.

Class

N class, division, category, categorema, head, order, section, department, subdepartment, province, domain, kind, sort, genus, species, variety, family, order, kingdom, race, tribe, caste, sept, clan, breed, type, subtype, kit, sect, set, subset, assortment, feather, kidney, suit, range, gender, sex, kin, manner, description, denomination, designation, rubric, character, stamp predicament, indication, particularization, selection, specification, similarity.

Party

N party, faction, side, denomination, communion, set, crew, band, horde, posse, phalanx, family, clan, team, tong, council, community, body, fellowship, sodality, solidarity, confraternity, familistere, familistery, brotherhood, sisterhood, knot, gang, clique, ring, circle, group, crowd, in-crowd, coterie, club, casino, machine, Tammany, Tammany Hall, corporation, corporate body, guild, establishment, company, copartnership, partnership, firm, house, joint concern, joint-stock company, cahoot, combine, trust, society, association, institute, institution, union, trades union, league, syndicate, alliance, Verein, Bund, Zollverein, combination, Turnverein, league offensive and defensive, alliance offensive and defensive, coalition, federation, confederation, confederacy, junto, cabal, camarilla, camorra, brigue, freemasonry, party spirit, Confederates, Conservatives, Democrats, Federalists, Federals, Freemason, Knight Templar, Kuklux, Kuklux Klan, KKK, Liberals, Luddites, Republicans, Socialists, Tories, Whigs staff, dramatis personae, in league, in partnership, in alliance, bonded together, banded together, linked, joined together, embattled, confederated, federative, joint, hand in hand, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, en masse, in the same boat.

Paternity

N paternity, parentage, consanguinity, parent, father, sire, dad, papa, paterfamilias, abba, genitor, progenitor, procreator, ancestor, grandsire, grandfather, great- grandfather, fathership, fatherhood, mabap, house, stem, trunk, tree, stock, stirps, pedigree, lineage, line, family, tribe, sept, race, clan, genealogy, descent, extraction, birth, ancestry, forefathers, forbears, patriarchs, motherhood, maternity, mother, dam, mamma, materfamilias, grandmother, paternal, parental, maternal, family, ancestral, linear, patriarchal, avi numerantur avorum, happy he with such a mother, hombre bueno no le busquen abolengo, philosophia stemma non inspicit, paternity, parentage, consanguinity, parent, father, sire, dad, papa, paterfamilias, abba, genitor, progenitor, procreator, ancestor, grandsire, grandfather, great- grandfather, fathership, fatherhood, mabap, house, stem, trunk, tree, stock, stirps, pedigree, lineage, line, family, tribe, sept, race, clan, genealogy, descent, extraction, birth, ancestry, forefathers, forbears, patriarchs, motherhood, maternity, mother, dam, mamma, materfamilias, grandmother, paternal, parental, maternal, family, ancestral, linear, patriarchal, avi numerantur avorum, happy he with such a mother, hombre bueno no le busquen abolengo, philosophia stemma non inspicit.

Posterity

N posterity, progeny, breed, issue, offspring, brood, litter, seed, farrow, spawn, spat, family, grandchildren, heirs, great-grandchild, child, son, daughter, butcha, bantling, scion, acrospire, plumule, shoot, sprout, olive-branch, sprit, branch, off-shoot, off- set, ramification, descendant, heir, heiress, heir-apparent, heir- presumptive, chip off the old block, heredity, rising generation, straight descent, sonship, line, lineage, filiation, primogeniture, filial, diphyletic, the child is father of the man, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, like father, like son.