immediate family

[ ih-mee-dee-it fam-uh-lee, famlee ]

/ ɪˈmi di ɪt ˈfæm ə li, ˈfæm li /

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noun

a social unit consisting of people who are very closely related, usually including parents, siblings, spouses, and children, or the members of this social unit:Benefits include free medical treatment for the employee and immediate family.Members of her immediate family and several former colleagues were also in attendance.Compare extended family (def. 1), nuclear family.

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Origin of immediate family

First recorded in 1730–40

Words nearby immediate family

immeasurable, immediacy, immediate, immediate annuity, immediate constituent, immediate family, immediately, immediatism, immedicable, Immelmann, Immelmann turn

How to use immediate family in a sentence

Everywhere I go, ‘Hey Cartman, you must like Family Guy, right?’
Trolls and Martyrdom: Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie|Arthur Chu|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It is grandstanding for a right rarely protected unless under immediate attack.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead|Luke O’Neil|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The third suspect, an 18-year-old named Hamyd Mourad, who turned himself in, is part of the same extended family.
France Mourns—and Hunts|Nico Hines, Christopher Dickey|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Saved from the public gallows, Weeks was virtually exiled from the city, and wound up in Mississippi, where he raised a family.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST

A spokesman for Lewisham council said last year that it would be forced to act if the family returned to Britain.
Britain May Spy on Preschoolers Searching for Potential Jihadis|Nico Hines|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
And that was that if he and his wife were to ever live together again and be happy, the family were to be kept out of it.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
“This house must have been the hotel of some distinguished family, Baron; it is nobly proportioned,” said David Arden.
Checkmate|Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
What course was taken to supply that assembly when any noble family became extinct?
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
The pig family did not know when Squinty would be taken away from them, and all they could do was to wait.
Squinty the Comical Pig|Richard Barnum
Mrs. Jolly Robin had often wished—when she was trying to feed a rapidly-growing family—that she could hunt forp.
The Tale of Grandfather Mole|Arthur Scott Bailey