grandmother
Americannoun
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grandmothers
plural
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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.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of grandmother
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at grand-, mother 1
Explanation
Your grandmother is your mom or dad's mother. In many traditional cultures, a grandmother lives with her adult child's family and helps raise her grandchildren. Everyone has two biological grandmothers, maternal (your mother's mother) and paternal (your father's mother). If you're lucky, your grandmother is someone you get to know well. One of the most well-known fictional grandmothers appears in "Little Red Riding Hood," the fairy tale in which a wolf disguises himself as Red Riding Hood's grandmother in an attempt to fool her into being eaten.
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.
See Examples For:
I told him I was planning to be more like my spirited grandmother, who had never apologized for her age and lived to be 94.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
If you’re watching a high school football game this weekend in the bleachers, say hello to a grandmother or grandfather.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
Le Ngoc Mai Uyen was a frequent visitor to the park named after her grandmother, revolutionary fighter Le Thi Rieng, before she realised her relative's body may be buried there.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
I drove the aging four-cylinder Ford Escort my grandmother had lent me, a car not much faster than her sewing machine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Israel’s mom was there, in her tall blue van, and Jenny Pearson’s grandmother was there, in her little green bug.
From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold
Her followers tell her she reminds them of their own mothers and grandmothers, with some calling her "the mom I never had".
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
The couple also wove Scottish traditions into their ceremony, taking part in a Celtic handfasting ritual, using pieces of fabric provided by both of their grandmothers.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Salterelli has seen cases where competing grandmothers both want to be guardians and a custody battle ensues.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Longevity prospered because these fit, caring and longer-lived grandmothers passed along their genes to more grandchildren.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
I roll up the sleeves and put on the charm bracelets that each of my grandmothers got me for my tenth birthday.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
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