immediate family

American  

[ih-mee-dee-it fam-uh-lee, fam lee] / ɪˈmi di ɪt ˈfæm ə li, ˈfæm li /

noun

immediate families plural

1. 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.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• immediate families
  plural

Etymology

Origin of immediate family

First recorded in 1730–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

immediate family

Also in June, China barred Teodoro, Manila's defence secretary, and his immediate family from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

I wonder how many people hide their true financial situation from everyone except their immediate family.

From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026

Like all those outside, he worries constantly for his immediate family, who luckily all survived the war.

From Barron's ● May 9, 2026

“I do not have any inheritance from anyone coming my way as I lost most of my immediate family when young.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

The two of them were all that remained of the immediate family.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French