stepbrother
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of stepbrother
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at step-, brother
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How does stepbrother compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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:
“I was so excited to go. We told his stepbrother, who lives there, so he had cleared his schedule. I had to tell him that we can’t go anymore. We still haven’t gone.”
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
"I'm really happy that people have a place to do this," she told AFP between her table of refreshments and the green camping tent she shares with her mother, stepbrother, and his mother.
From Barron's ● Mar. 2, 2026
Their stepbrother, Joel, had helped them get hired; he had worked there for about two years, family members said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2025
Baena's surviving family includes his mother Barbara Stern and stepfather Roger Stern; father Scott and stepmother Michele Baena; brother Brad Baena; stepsister Bianca Gabay and stepbrother Jed Fluxman.
From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2025
Despite the fever and the raging infection, her stepbrother had beaten them to the pancake-house construction site.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
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While coaches playfully refer to them as stepbrothers, Verse said the relationship goes deeper.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2025
Josh Peck and Bell, the show's titular characters who portrayed two teenage stepbrothers, worked together across the span of four seasons from 2004 to 2007.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2024
After Lalani was seriously injured in a car accident in which one of her stepbrothers died, she went to live with her stepmother.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2022
Survivors include a son from his first marriage, William Jr.; two stepbrothers; two stepsisters; and three grandchildren.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2022
Through holidays and Vineyard vacations, they have come to feel close not only to their stepbrothers, but also to Cate Woolner’s sisters’ children, whose pictures are on display in Lael’s house in Vermont.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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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.