nuclear family

American  

[noo-klee-er fam-uh-lee, fam lee, nyoo-] / ˈnu kli ər ˈfæm ə li, ˈfæm li, ˈnju- /

noun

nuclear families plural

1. a social unit composed of two parents and one or more children.

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nuclear family British  

noun

1. sociol anthropol a primary social unit consisting of parents and their offspring Compare extended family

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nuclear family Cultural  

1. A type of family made up only of parents and their children. (Compare extended family.)

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Pronunciation

See nuclear ( def. ).

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• nuclear families
  plural

Etymology

Origin of nuclear family

First recorded in 1945–50

Compare meaning

How does nuclear-family compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• nuclear family vs. extended family

Example Sentences

There’s a real “misery loves company” component to the pressure to shoehorn everyone into their narrow vision of the nuclear family.

From Salon • Jun. 29, 2026

The nuclear family is destroyed; the crime family is falling apart.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025

“I want them to see how Easy has developed and changed over the years. And that family, even though Easy’s doesn’t look like the nuclear family, is what America has always been about.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 4, 2025

Scott recalled growing up in a working-class family in Birmingham, "in a world of soap operas and things" where TV characters were mostly in heterosexual relationships or "settled down" in a nuclear family.

From BBC • May 31, 2025

Behind him huddled his nuclear family, a circle of two smaller females and about eighteen bucktoothed guinea pig children.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline