grandmother
Americannoun
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the mother of one's father or mother.
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a female ancestor.
noun
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the mother of one's father or mother
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(often plural) a female ancestor
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(often capital) a familiar term of address for an old woman
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See egg 1
Usage
What does grandmother mean? A grandmother is the mother of a person’s parent. When a mother’s child has their own children, that mother becomes a grandmother. Less commonly, grandmother can be used in a general way to refer to a female ancestor, as in This would not be possible without the contributions of those who came before us, our many grandmothers. Should grandmother be capitalized?Grandmother should be capitalized when it’s used as a proper name, as in Please tell Grandmother that I miss her. But grandmother does not need to be capitalized when it’s simply used as a way to refer to her, as in Please tell my grandmother that I miss her. Example: It doesn’t matter what you call your grandmother, as long as you call her.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of grandmother
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at grand-, mother 1
Explanation
Your grandmother is your mom or dad's mother. In many traditional cultures, a grandmother lives with her adult child's family and helps raise her grandchildren. Everyone has two biological grandmothers, maternal (your mother's mother) and paternal (your father's mother). If you're lucky, your grandmother is someone you get to know well. One of the most well-known fictional grandmothers appears in "Little Red Riding Hood," the fairy tale in which a wolf disguises himself as Red Riding Hood's grandmother in an attempt to fool her into being eaten.
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:
In Philadelphia—where kids are down 6%—Nija Rivera, 39, grew up working class in a row house with her siblings, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
"I think my grandmother would have given me a proper telling-off if she'd been told she had to reserve online at the heuriger!" he joked.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
Don’t miss: ‘The money would have been life-changing’: My father told my grandmother to slash my inheritance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026
Her grandmother Rose is a former sprinter who was once dubbed "the fastest woman in Africa" and represented Ghana at the Commonwealth Games.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The grandmother pointed with her chin in the direction Maggie needed to go.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Add to that the centuries-old cliches of Italian mothers and grandmothers showing their love through food, and it's a perfect storm.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Freelance writer and editor Lucy Schiller bumped up against the issues of aging, eldercare and loneliness through her grandmothers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
I’m not trying to turn anybody into grandmothers, but the upside is not there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
But when I went down for Gamble’s trial, I found instead a place where the Southern grandmothers were rising to the occasion.
From Slate ● May 4, 2026
My parents disappear a lot when the grandmothers are together.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
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.
