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:
His son Lachlan became chair of the company, which owns UK media organisations including Virgin Radio, TalkSPORT, and the newspapers the Sun and the Times.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
My wife’s niece has a son who will be going to college next year.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
“Children of Blood and Bone” director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s son Cassius Bythewood was honored by Miami Police department last week for saving a woman from a near-fatal attack.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
The badass riffs in this particular case are courtesy of Roman Morello, the 15-year-old son of our interviewee, who joined his dad’s band when he was 13.
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026
Momma Rossi, gray-haired and a bit shorter than her son, stood at the sink peeling sweet potatoes.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
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
Poor Dick! bad Dick, our wayward son- Turbulent, restless, idle one- Could he be spared?
From De La Salle Fifth Reader by Christian Brothers
A recovery in the Vietnam joint venture Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical is also a positive catalyst, the bank says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Ray Galton and Alan Simpson went on to create the sitcoms Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
SoftBank’s first-quarter earnings comfortably outpaced analyst expectations but this time around, Masayoshi Son the founder and chief executive, was unable to bolster his results with an increased valuation of the SoftBank stake in OpenAI.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
In his 2012 autobiography "An American Son," the man oft-memed as the "viceroy" of Cuba, recounts boasting to his exiled Cuban grandfather that he would one day overthrow Fidel Castro and free Cuba.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Maybe, in another version of his life, he’d become a Son of the Six, follow in his baba’s footsteps like he’d always envisioned.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Phyllis Pancella brought thoughtful intensity to Clara’s aria of worry about her sons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Don’t miss: I’m terrified my sons will give their inheritance to my ex-husband.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Dasafo is survived by his two sons, Jalil and Ammar-Joseph, and twin daughters, Queen-Inaya and Queen-Imara.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
"Because of the people who've gone to fight and the families left behind with sons, husbands, children and grandchildren there. But these elections can't influence what will happen."
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
They would want the world to hear the truth about their sons.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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.
