grandmother
Americannoun
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the mother of one's father or mother.
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a female ancestor.
noun
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the mother of one's father or mother
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(often plural) a female ancestor
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(often capital) a familiar term of address for an old woman
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See egg 1
Usage
What does grandmother mean? A grandmother is the mother of a person’s parent.When a mother’s child has their own children, that mother becomes a grandmother.Less commonly, grandmother can be used in a general way to refer to a female ancestor, as in This would not be possible without the contributions of those who came before us, our many grandmothers.Should grandmother be capitalized?Grandmother should be capitalized when it’s used as a proper name, as in Please tell Grandmother that I miss her. But grandmother does not need to be capitalized when it’s simply used as a way to refer to her, as in Please tell my grandmother that I miss her. Example: It doesn’t matter what you call your grandmother, as long as you call her.
Etymology
Origin of grandmother
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; grand-, mother 1
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.
Tracing the lives of three “daughters of China”—the author, her mother and her grandmother—the book illuminated 20th-century Chinese history in a way that was at once thrilling and alarming.
But when she puts it on — and she can put it on — she always considers her grandmother’s fashion big three: quality, color and taste.
From Los Angeles Times
A no-spend week nudges me toward living out that old Depression-era saying my grandmother liked enough to have embroidered on a pillow: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
From Salon
And they are sentimental to her, because she uses her grandmother’s recipe.
From Los Angeles Times
It reminded me of my grandmother, who when I pointed a video camera at her for the first time, she didn’t move because she was thinking I was taking a photo of her.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
