extended family
Americannoun
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extended families
plural
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a kinship group consisting of a family nucleus and various relatives, as grandparents, usually living in one household and functioning as a larger unit.
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(loosely) one's family conceived of as including aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, and sometimes close friends and colleagues.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of extended family
First recorded in 1940–45
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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.
Ahmed Abu Sharia, a member of the extended family of those being buried, told AFP the funeral would at last provide closure for relatives.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
The 21-year-old custodian was the Lightning Lane manager for his group of 19 extended family members—nearly twice the limit that can be managed on a single device.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
When they decided to book an exclusive holiday with extended family to Dubai and Thailand, Griffiths said he would book it and Joanne duly paid him back for her share.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
But what clinched the deal, he said, was the fact he’d known Nguyen’s husband and his extended family for years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Despite the tumult of the times, I was a happy, chubby baby who slept through the night and was loved by an extended family full of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmas.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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.
