extended family
Americannoun
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a kinship group consisting of a family nucleus and various relatives, as grandparents, usually living in one household and functioning as a larger unit.
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(loosely) one's family conceived of as including aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, and sometimes close friends and colleagues.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of extended family
First recorded in 1940–45
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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.
But what clinched the deal, he said, was the fact he’d known Nguyen’s husband and his extended family for years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
The 25-year-old knew no-one in Manchester beyond a few extended family members and initially planned to stay only temporarily, using it as a base to travel across Europe and explore other parts of the world.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
When I look at the community he ultimately built around himself – the performers, writers, producers, actors, and friends who became his extended family – it feels like a continuation of that impulse.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
Clinical Professor of Psychology at Weill Cornell Medicine, says the decline of extended family involvement has helped fuel what the U.S.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 13, 2026
A week after dropping the broom, I’m at Anita’s house, eat- ing dinner with the whole extended family.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
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.
