brother-in-law
Americannoun
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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.
"My brother in law told me that he has hasn't eaten any food since yesterday. We are very worried," she said.
From Reuters • Nov. 25, 2023
“I’m terrified each time I hear the phone ring. My brother in law was the kindest and most gentle man you would have ever known.”
From Seattle Times • Dec. 15, 2021
Leading the tributes online, director Edgar Wright said: The flight path gag wiping out the lines of Reggie Perrin’s brother in law is one of my favourite in comedy.
From The Guardian • Nov. 6, 2020
He was musically inclined from an early age and learned piano from his brother in law, the jazz banjo player, Harrison Verrett.
From BBC • Oct. 25, 2017
Six weeks after it had been signed and sealed, the charming princess, whose influence over her brother and brother in law had been so pernicious to her country, was no more.
From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 1 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
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.
