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:
Jung Da-kyung, a law student, recalls a female friend asking her brother-in-law, an SK Hynix employee, to be introduced to someone at the chip maker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
The 64-year-old billionaire and head of African football has been repeatedly mentioned in the South African media as a potential successor to his brother-in-law, President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose second and final term ends in 2029.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Daniel Powers, Cancro’s brother-in-law, got around $30 million at that time, while Phillip Sivolobov, Cancro’s stepson, received total compensation of approximately $50 million.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
Word spread that Sillie’s missing brother-in-law had sent a cellphone text message: “We are trapped, help.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
It turned out the SIM agent in charge recognized Tío Pepe, whose brother-in-law, Dr. Mella, had saved his little daughter’s life after a ruptured appendix.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
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
The two, once active in rival North Hollywood gangs, sat at a elegant desk built by Tejada’s brothers-in-law.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2024
“Do you know what forces us to get in there?” said Margara Sanchez, whose brothers-in-law, uncles and cousins work at the mine.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
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
One of my brothers-in-law was a roofing foreman.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
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.
