son
noun
a male child or person in relation to his parents.
son
1 American
[suhn]
/ sʌn /
noun
-
sons
plural
-
a male child or person in relation to his parents.
-
a male child or person adopted as a son; a person in the legal position of a son.
-
any male descendant.
a son of the Aztecs.
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a son-in-law.
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a person related as if by ties of sonship.
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a male person looked upon as the product or result of particular agencies, forces, influences, etc..
a true son of the soil.
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a familiar term of address to a man or boy from an older person, an ecclesiastic, etc.
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the Son, the second person of the Trinity; Jesus Christ.
son-
2
American
son
1
British
/ sʌn /
noun
-
a male offspring; a boy or man in relation to his parents
-
a male descendant
-
(often capital) a familiar term of address for a boy or man
-
a male from a certain country, place, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environment
a son of the circus
a son of the manse
Son
2
British
/ sʌn /
noun
son
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of son
before 900; Middle English sone, Old English sunu; cognate with Dutch zoon, German Sohn, Old Norse sunr, sonr, Gothic sunus, Lithuanian sūnùs, Sanskrit sūnus; akin to Greek huiós
Explanation
Anyone can call a boy son, but technically, your son has to be your male child. If you're male, you are your parents' son. Well done, son! You can use the noun son for non-human animals too: "Our cat had six kittens, five daughters and one son." But it's far more likely that you'll describe human offspring as sons or daughters. Family names (or surnames) in many cultures include son or son of, like "Jefferson" or "Wilson," originally "son of Jeffrey" and "son of William."
Vocabulary lists containing son
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:
Her first English words to a tourist: “Excuse me, my son is learning English. Would you mind talking with him a little bit?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
One day this spring, her oldest son suddenly began speaking mostly in English.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
His mother was a member of the august Carrillo family, and his father was a captain in the Mexican army, killed in the Cahuenga Pass when his namesake son was just a few weeks old.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
Savannah McDaid and her three-year-old son Arló had enjoyed an evening trick-or-treating together, in their home town of Stranorlar, County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
Approaching their elder years, with little money saved, Mother and Father wanted to be close to son David, a peppermint farmer.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Be careful there son- the last time I let a fan put themself in my shoes, they just took off running & sold them on Ebay.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2018
There was Joseph Manley, son- in-law and arch-disciple of Foster.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is the voice I hear even now when my mother addresses her son- or daughter-in-law.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
And then she pointed her crab leg toward her future son- in-law, Rich, and said, “See how this one doesn’t know how to eat Chinese food.”
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
And here Marcus, the son of Cato, and son- in-law of Aemilius, whilst he showed all possible courage, let fall his sword.
From Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans by Arthur Hugh Clough
Alex Pong left a career in tech to open the Paper Son Cafe in San Francisco in 2023.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Bourne has written songs for McFly and 5 Seconds of Summer, and also fronted his own band, Son of Dork.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Appeared in the October 21, 2026, print edition as 'Ellison Borrowed Heavily for Son'.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
My current thinking: As I approach retirement, I would like to transfer ownership of the business to Son #1.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
She didn’t think he was a Son of the Six—he wasn’t wearing the distinguishing sky-blue kaftan, and he didn’t look quite old enough to be a warrior—but seeing him still didn’t put her at ease.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Now 34, she didn’t want her three sons missing the world beyond Vietnam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
I have two adult sons who have completed college, and I am entirely debt-free, with no mortgage, auto loans or other outstanding obligations.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
One son and a divorced daughter share his tiny one-room apartment, while his two other sons had to move elsewhere due to lack of space.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
The film’s subjects, mountaineer Jim Morrison and his partner Hilaree Nelson, found love at the edge of the world and made a life together, with Morrison becoming co-parent to Nelson’s two young sons.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026
This time, his oldest two sons, Hal and Jim, would go with him.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
