grandmother
Americannoun
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grandmothers
plural
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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:
“Of course, his grandmother was a very funny woman,” says Mr. O’Dowd.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
Waving my white dinner napkin aloft, I thought of my grandmother: loud and proud.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Their maternal grandmother lives in Bath, although Felix has never visited his father's hometown of Blackburn.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Alonzo and Dale named the gallery after their grandmother, Della Brockman, and designed a logo that combined the male and female gender symbols with the letter B and an arrow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
“Your grandmother has already interrogated the ambassador. Really annoyed him.”
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Salterelli has seen cases where competing grandmothers both want to be guardians and a custody battle ensues.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Longevity prospered because these fit, caring and longer-lived grandmothers passed along their genes to more grandchildren.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
What began as a chance encounter on a flight to Las Vegas could soon be heading to the big screen, as a group of grandmothers and a pro-wrestler discuss a film based on their story.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Pregnant Then Screwed surveyed, external more than 1,300 parents and found 80% of those using informal childcare relied on grandmothers.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
The children yelled even louder as they were suddenly squashed by falling mothers, grandmothers, aunts and older sisters.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
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