son-in-law
Americannoun
-
sons-in-law
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of son-in-law
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English sone in lawe; see origin at son, in, law 1; 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:
They also said their son-in-law had suffered from worsening post-traumatic stress disorder.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Afghanistan citizen Haji Zada was never charged with a crime, but prosecutors had tried and convicted her son and son-in-law for terror offenses.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Before their arrival in Moscow, President Trump praised Witkoff and Kushner, who is his son-in-law, as “great negotiators” and said the two men were bringing proposals to end the war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
The daytime strike came two days before US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected to visit Kyiv for the first time, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
During the wedding breakfast, Mother Fox, dead more than seven years, showed up in spirit to speak to her new son-in-law, “expressing her approval of the marriage.”
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Every year, we give each of our daughters and sons-in-law $100 for their birthdays.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
Also inside the house with Mr Ezzedine were his wife, sister, daughters, daughter-in-law, sons-in-law and his grandchildren, she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2024
The same masters, however, often changed the rules of their guild so that only the sons and sons-in-law of current masters could become masters themselves.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
When the funeral home van came to gather his body from his home, he was carried out by one of his sons-in-law, Jack Landherr’s father, John, and a sportswriter, this one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2022
PapS assigns the different facts to his sons-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.
