son
noun
a male child or person in relation to his parents.
Showing results for son.
Search instead for
sonly.
son
1 American
[suhn]
/ sʌn /
noun
-
sons
plural
-
a male child or person in relation to his parents.
-
a male child or person adopted as a son; a person in the legal position of a son.
-
any male descendant.
a son of the Aztecs.
-
a son-in-law.
-
a person related as if by ties of sonship.
-
a male person looked upon as the product or result of particular agencies, forces, influences, etc..
a true son of the soil.
-
a familiar term of address to a man or boy from an older person, an ecclesiastic, etc.
-
the Son, the second person of the Trinity; Jesus Christ.
son-
2
American
son
1
British
/ sʌn /
noun
-
a male offspring; a boy or man in relation to his parents
-
a male descendant
-
(often capital) a familiar term of address for a boy or man
-
a male from a certain country, place, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environment
a son of the circus
a son of the manse
Son
2
British
/ sʌn /
noun
son
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of son
before 900; Middle English sone, Old English sunu; cognate with Dutch zoon, German Sohn, Old Norse sunr, sonr, Gothic sunus, Lithuanian sūnùs, Sanskrit sūnus; akin to Greek huiós
Explanation
Anyone can call a boy son, but technically, your son has to be your male child. If you're male, you are your parents' son. Well done, son! You can use the noun son for non-human animals too: "Our cat had six kittens, five daughters and one son." But it's far more likely that you'll describe human offspring as sons or daughters. Family names (or surnames) in many cultures include son or son of, like "Jefferson" or "Wilson," originally "son of Jeffrey" and "son of William."
Vocabulary lists containing son
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He was the genuine artifact, the son of an impoverished Minnesota miner; a lumberjack and a steelworker in his youth.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
One father told Nigerian media that his son had appeared healthy when relatives took him food the day before his death and called for an independent post-mortem examination.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
His son, meanwhile, has had 33 years at the firm.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Max is survived by his son Adam and his daughter Libra Astro.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
After my father’s boss’s son mentioned his cousin August I started creating stories in my head, about each of them.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Be careful there son- the last time I let a fan put themself in my shoes, they just took off running & sold them on Ebay.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2018
There was Joseph Manley, son- in-law and arch-disciple of Foster.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is the voice I hear even now when my mother addresses her son- or daughter-in-law.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
And then she pointed her crab leg toward her future son- in-law, Rich, and said, “See how this one doesn’t know how to eat Chinese food.”
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
But listen: I have never consented to profit by Harley L'Estrange's friendship for me; my scruples would not extend to my son- in-law.
From My Novel — Volume 09 by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
A recovery in the Vietnam joint venture Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical is also a positive catalyst, the bank says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Son of 102-year-old says father died after being 'pushed off stage'
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
SoftBank’s first-quarter earnings comfortably outpaced analyst expectations but this time around, Masayoshi Son the founder and chief executive, was unable to bolster his results with an increased valuation of the SoftBank stake in OpenAI.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
The complaint named Shinsegae Group chairman Chung Yong-jin and Son Jung-hyun -- the former CEO of Starbucks Korea, who resigned over the furore.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
“They are vats. They are called Son and Bodn.”
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
"Their knowledge of that fact seemed to make them all the more determined that their three sons would go."
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
The story brims with humor, much of it involving Ms. Korsgaard’s attempt to square her work as a budding naturalist with her life as a spouse and parent of three young sons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
His sons Eric and Donald Trump Junior are expected to accompany Trump in Doonbeg.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
“It’s not fun,” one of her sons tells her, “when you don’t care about butterflies.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
“Now, you all know my own sons are over there right now,” he began.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
