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.
-
a son-in-law.
-
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:
And in a remarkable twist of fate, his special connection with the competition has been carried on by his son.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026
The son of peasants, Franqui was one of the original rebels in the hills with Castro, in charge of propaganda.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Blacknell did not know who was representing her client’s son.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
The couple welcomed a son, Taran, in June 2018, and a daughter, Sloane, in 2022.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
“My son had a dog like this once,” Anna said.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
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
Acting upon that principle, he had married off his daughter, the elder Madame Fromont, without one sou of dowry, and he never forgave his son- in-law for having made a fortune without assistance from him.
From Fromont and Risler — Volume 3 by Alphonse Daudet
Once lauded as the Son of Heaven, Puyi died in 1967 as a commoner in Beijing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Alice Cooper, a master of music, marketing and mascara, has updated the Prodigal Son saga.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 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
My current thinking: As I approach retirement, I would like to transfer ownership of the business to Son #1.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
“But He was the Son of God,” said John, “and He knew it.”
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
I recognize that every dollar I spend today is a dollar that won’t be available for future investments, unexpected expenses or an inheritance for my sons.
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
Accounts from the time suggest paper sons paid somewhere around $100 per year of age, meaning Chin Sing might have given Lee Him something in the range of $30,000 in today’s dollars for his slot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 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
And it doesn’t have to be because they want a father figure for their sons.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
