extended family

[ik-sten-did fam-uh-lee, fam lee]

noun

1. a kinship group consisting of a family nucleus and various relatives, as grandparents, usually living in one household and functioning as a larger unit.

2. (loosely) one's family conceived of as including aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, and sometimes close friends and colleagues.

extended family

noun

1. sociol anthropol a social unit that contains the nuclear family together with blood relatives, often spanning three or more generations

extended family

1. A type of family in which relatives in addition to parents and children (such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) live in a single household. A nuclear family forms the core of an extended family.

Word History and Origins

Origin of extended family¹

First recorded in 1940–45

Related Words

• nuclear family