mother-in-law
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mother-in-law
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English moder in lawe; see origin at mother 1 ( def. ), in ( def. ), law 1 ( def. ); from Middle English in-lawe “in law,” i.e., “a person within the regulation and protection of the law,” based on the prohibition by Roman civil law and, later, Christian canon law, of marriages within four degrees of consanguinity, i.e., up to and including first cousins
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:
Four of them were run by the PSNI, who also created a "profile" on him, which included car registrations and the names of his wife and mother-in-law.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Tenisha Warner, the actor’s wife and mother to his daughter, on Monday filed a civil complaint against her mother-in-law alleging breach of contract.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Jean Alexander Capote lost his mother-in-law in the disaster and cried with frustration as he searched for his stepdaughter among the ruins.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026
For his mother-in-law, it allowed her to be comfortable in her house and to live the life she wanted to live.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
After Officer Delinko gave him a lift home, Curly had entertained his wife and mother-in-law with a blow- by-blow account of the exciting events.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
They teased one another, complained about overbearing mothers-in-law and celebrated milestones, like a daughter’s quinceañera.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 2025
No one today any longer wishes to hear jokes about nagging mothers-in-law, spendthrift wives or old jalopies, and the men and women who once told them to hardy plaudits are now forgotten.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Lila Charif, Bahar Tavakolian and Laya Kadjavi, whose mothers and mothers-in-law were also close to mine, drew much inspiration from her in their own cooking.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2024
There, a team led by medical anthropologist Adelaide Lusambili of Africa International University conducted interviews with dozens of pregnant women, new mothers, male partners, mothers-in-law, community health care workers, and community leaders in 2021.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 27, 2023
By that time Mate and I had already left for Puerto Plata, accompanied by one or the other of our mothers-in-law.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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.
