brother-in-law
Americannoun
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brothers-in-law
plural
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the brother of one's spouse.
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the husband of one's sister or brother.
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the husband of one's spouse's sister or brother.
noun
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the brother of one's wife or husband
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the husband of one's sister
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the husband of the sister of one's husband or wife
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of brother-in-law
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English brother in law(e); see origin at brother, in, law 1; from Middle English in-lawe “in law,” i.e., “a person within the regulation and protection of the law,” based on the prohibition by Roman civil law and, later, Christian canon law, of marriages within four degrees of consanguinity, i.e., up to and including first cousins
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:
“One of Us” is about your brother-in-law, which made me realize how few people write songs about their in-laws.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
The project’s masonry contractor was a firm called Acranom, whose vice president, John Duffy, was Diamantis’s former brother-in-law and called him “Uncle.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Arabella Pepper, the younger sister of Sir Ranulph's late first wife Ginny, told BBC Newsnight that she had not been able to see her former brother-in-law for over a year.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
My brother-in-law, however, was adamant that he did not want to sell the house to us.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
The deal was done in cash, and Mattie’s brother-in-law never asked for Shadow’s name or social security number or for anything except the money.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
During the Civil War her brother George was a surgeon at a Confederate hospital, while three half-brothers and four brothers-in-law all supported the Confederacy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
Mason is survived by his wife, Winifred Wilson, daughter Danielle, nephew John Leonard, niece Michelle Leonard and his brothers-in-law, Sloan Wilson and Walton Wilson.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
Urfan's Pakistan-based family have taken Jhelum police to court twice, accusing them of detaining several of Urfan's brothers and brothers-in-law illegally.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2023
That’s when one of my brothers-in-law had to have surgery, to have some tumors removed in his brain.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2023
Patti starts pointing out faces and naming my father's cousins and their sisters and sisters-in-law and brothers and brothers-in-law.
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
