blood relation

American

Or blood relative

noun

one related by birth.

blood relation British

noun

a person related to another by birth, as distinct from one related by marriage

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of blood relation

First recorded in 1700–10

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.

He’s been married since the ’90s, raising two stepdaughters and taking on the role of “Papa” to three grandkids who despite having no blood relation to Egypt look exactly like him.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025

Single and empty-nested, Cuomo shares the space with a Northern Inuit named Captain, a blood relation to the dogs cast as viciously loyal “direwolves” on “Game of Thrones.”

From New York Times • Apr. 13, 2021

James Blaesing told an Ohio court that he is seeking Harding’s disinterment as a way “to establish with scientific certainty” that he is the 29th president’s blood relation.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 13, 2020

Also attending are my best man, who lived next door and practically grew up with us, and my grandfather’s son, who is not a blood relation but who grew up with my parents.

From Slate • Jul. 9, 2018

So I did not ask why I was raised in a house by many men, none of w hom claimed blood relation to me.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023