daughter-in-law
Americannoun
-
daughters-in-law
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of daughter-in-law
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English doughter in lawe; see origin at daughter, 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:
Mary Beth Lynn, her daughter-in-law and a travel adviser, says the trip made a difference for Julia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
I can’t tell you to disinherit your son and daughter-in-law, and I can’t tell you not to do so.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
“They’re a team,” said Carla Prieto, Fuentes’ daughter-in-law.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Yet it remained a fact that Ko was "never recognised as a daughter-in-law by Kim Il Sung", wrote Ryu - and nor was he ever publicly seen with her children.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
It was only the Widow Ashton’s inability to see objects clearly without her pince-nez that prevented her from spotting her daughter-in-law the moment she climbed out of her carriage.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
His grandad Michael, 65, started out in 1992 and, at various points over the years, has been joined by all five of his sons and two of his daughters-in-law.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2025
The women in the village passed on the craft to their daughters and daughters-in-law.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2024
Moore is survived by his sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2024
Photos from their trips, along with smiling images of their sons, daughters-in-law and three granddaughters, adorn every square foot of their spacious two-bedroom apartment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
Perhaps she had encountered him in the fields or on the mountain where the daughters-in-law collected fuel.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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.
