first family
Americannoun
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a family having the highest or one of the highest social ranks in a given place.
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(often initial capital letters) the family of the president of the U.S. or the family of the governor of a state.
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a family descended from a colonist or early settler in a country, region, etc..
one of the first families of Virginia.
Etymology
Origin of first family
An Americanism dating back to 1835–45
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.
In some instances, the first family has profited from the push.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
Nvidia unveiled what it dubbed the world’s first family of open-source models designed to help researchers build quantum processors.
From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026
The arrest in South Africa of the youngest son of Zimbabwe's former President, Robert Mugabe, has brought renewed attention to the former first family and their controversies over the years.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026
There is footage of the highly choreographed move-in and move-out process that happens every four years when a new first family moves into the White House.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
They live in a larger hut than the first family, but still we are relegated to the corner of the room.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
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.
