family circle

Save This Word!

noun

the closely related members of a family as a group.

a section in a theater containing less expensive seats, as the topmost gallery.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of family circle

First recorded in 1800–10

Words nearby family circle

family, family allowance, Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, family balancing, family Bible, family circle, Family Compact, family court, family credit, Family Division, family doctor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use family circle in a sentence

Wood is only 47, but death has lately loitered in the family circle.
James Wood Gets Personal|Jimmy So|December 21, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Family Circle Recipe Contest Could the election be decided by bake-off?
Strangest Presidential Election Predictors: 7-Eleven Coffee Cups & More|Kevin Fallon|October 4, 2012|DAILY BEAST
His books were read in our homes, often aloud to the family circle by paterfamilias, and moved us to laughter or tears.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland|Joseph Tatlow
About the end of 1844 she welcomed very coldly Sylvain Pons, then in disgrace in the family circle.
Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A -- Z|Anatole Cerfberr and Jules Franois Christophe

Professor Fortescue was unqualified in his condemnation of the sentiment which erected sacrificial altars in the family circle.
The Daughters of Danaus|Mona Caird
The next summer preparations were made for another journey, and there was much conversation about it in the family circle.
Minnie's Pet Dog|Madeline Leslie
I confess the advent of this young Thompson from Framlingham was a great event in our small family circle.
East Anglia|J. Ewing Ritchie

British Dictionary definitions for family circle

family circle

noun

members of a family regarded as a closed group

mainly US the cheap seating area in a theatre behind or above the dress circle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012