great-aunt
Americannoun
-
great-aunts
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of great-aunt
First recorded in 1650–60
Compare meaning
How does great-aunt compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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:
Speaking of her great-aunt, she says, “I channel her a lot.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Dowden also turned detective in the episode and delved into why her great-aunt was shot in 1888.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
Maybe you have looked at the clouds and imagined a sailboat, a seahorse, or even your great-aunt Rosemary staring back at you.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026
“Who thinks this would happen at a baby birthday party,” said a woman who identified herself as a great-aunt of the birthday girl.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2025
For me, it was a throwback to the way I’d been raised—the jazz at Southside’s house, the piano recitals and Operetta Workshops put on by my great-aunt Robbie, my family’s trips to downtown museums.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Once my sister goes, “I don’t remember our great-aunts and -uncles being as crazy as Mom and Dad can be.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025
TJ: My mother was the oldest of my grandmother’s nine children, so she was the one who went to work with my great-aunts when they were domestics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2023
“They would tell me stories about my great-aunts and uncles and their experiences coming to America,” Zuñiga said.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 4, 2022
However, she worries that if she invites great-aunts and great-uncles on our side of the family, she would be obliged to invite her father’s siblings as well.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2022
My father's family, meanwhile, sprawled across Chicago’s broader South Side and included an array of great-aunts and third cousins, plus a few stray outliers whose blood connection remained cloudy.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
