stepfather
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of stepfather
First recorded before 900; Middle English stepfader, Old English stēopfæder; step- + father ( def. )
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:
"Justice has finally been done for our son. He will now be able to rest in peace," Jonathan's stepfather told the press.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
He is Eddie Triplett, a long-lost stepfather whose divorce from Daphne’s mother, Abigail, remains an unhealed wound.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
Eddie Triplett, a book editor, had been her stepfather for roughly a year, until Daphne’s mother left him and remarried.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
So did her mother and stepfather, who had supported the governor for years.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
Her stepfather, Jacob Marrel, put her to work in his studio.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
One of those he investigated was Matthew White, and Clive told an extraordinary tale of finding that an approach by one of White's stepfathers had been disastrously mishandled by the Met in 1993.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2023
And among those to be celebrated, according to NRF, are fathers, stepfathers, husbands, sons, grandfathers, brothers, godfathers, friends, or another relative who is like a father.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 18, 2022
Ditto became a straight-talking icon, as happy to discuss her challenging upbringing with her God-fearing mother and various stepfathers as she was the political, cultural, gender and sexuality issues that fired and inspired her.
From The Guardian ● May 28, 2017
Steinke's men are at best just worried fathers, inappropriate stepfathers, local perverts, inconsequential playground bullies, a nagging brother.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2014
It is time that our "spiritual fathers" and other stepfathers began to give us a lead in spiritual things.
From War and the Weird by Phillips, Forbes
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.
