great-grandparent
Americannoun
-
great-grandparents
plural
Usage
What does great-grandparent mean? A great-grandparent is the parent of a person’s grandparent (the grandparent of a person’s parent). When a parent’s child has children, that parent becomes a grandparent. When those children have children, the grandparent becomes a great-grandparent. Great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers are great-grandparents. In your family tree, you have four grandparents and eight great-grandparents. Example: My kids were lucky enough to get to know three of their great-grandparents.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of great-grandparent
First recorded in 1880–85
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:
The kind of people who have the time and the desire to wage a culture war on schools tend to be more of the grandparent or even great-grandparent age.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2023
In addition to his brother, Jackson is survived by his parents, grandparents, a great-grandparent and several aunts and uncles, among other loved ones.
From Fox News ● Dec. 2, 2021
You just do it by comparing DNA instead of last names or a common great-grandparent.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2021
Both are grandparents and Trevor is a great-grandparent.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2020
“My grandparent, too. My great-grandparent were less even than that.”
From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata
Five others were born to immigrant parents and two others have immigrant grandparents or great-grandparents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026
Boyd’s great-grandparents, August and Antonia Maternowski, purchased Union in 1918 and ran it with the help of their 12 children.
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2026
Third-degree relatives, such as cousins or great-grandparents and great-grandchildren, share one eighth.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 19, 2026
“We must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured,” Mark Rutte warned over the weekend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025
Pena had blood samples from people who believed their grandparents or great-grandparents were Indians and who had lived in Botocudo territory.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
