extended family

[ ik-sten-did fam-uh-lee, fam lee ]

noun

1. a kinship group consisting of a family nucleus and various relatives, as grandparents, usually living in one household and functioning as a larger unit. Compare immediate family ( def ), nuclear family ( def ).
2. (loosely) one's family conceived of as including aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, and sometimes close friends and colleagues.

extended family

noun

1. sociol anthropol a social unit that contains the nuclear family together with blood relatives, often spanning three or more generations

extended family

1. A type of family in which relatives in addition to parents and children (such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) live in a single household. A nuclear family forms the core of an extended family.

Word History and Origins

Origin of extended family¹

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

After my father’s death, our large extended family rallied around my mom, brother and me, pitching in with child care so she could attend graduate school.

From Washington Post

I do not want my friends or extended family to know about this choice.

From Washington Post

I did not live by extended family when I was a child nor did I have family nearby when raising my own.

From Washington Post

Many people have sought out at-home DNA testing kits as a way to learn more about their ancestors and their extended family trees.

From Voice of San Diego

Greg served in the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office for 27 years, and several extended family members in the past few generations have served in law enforcement.

From Washington Post

The third suspect, an 18-year-old named Hamyd Mourad, who turned himself in, is part of the same extended family.

From The Daily Beast

Sabrina quickly realized that none of her extended family members were planning to write back to her.

From The Daily Beast

During August and September, UNICEF had helped 700 children find a parent or extended family or placed a child in foster care.

From The Daily Beast

It may not be a traditional family,” he says, “but it is an extended family.

From The Daily Beast

He attempted to join his extended family in France before being turned away twice trying to get to Paris.

From The Daily Beast

The extended family groupings in terms of matrilocal residence or centered around a sibling group are amorphous but flexible.

From Project Gutenberg

In this two-field system, land was held by peasants in units designed to support a single extended family.

From Project Gutenberg

The family in the narrower sense, the children of one father in one house, grew into a more extended family, the gens.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• nuclear family