son
noun
a male child or person in relation to his parents.
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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:
The Daily Mirror poses the question on the lips of a heartbroken mother: "What did you do to my son?"
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
He frequently speaks about his humble beginnings as the son of a bartender and a hotel maid.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
I even mentioned it to my 26-year-old son.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
She’s been sober for 20 years, she writes, remarried and now has a son with her second husband.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Sancho was a poor farmer with a wife, a son, and a daughter.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
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
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
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
For the blissful calm of this happy old age she was mainly indebted to the affectionate care of her son- in-law, Friedrich Brockhaus, to whom I expressed my heartfelt thanks for his goodness.
From My Life — Volume 1 by Wagner, Richard
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
Following graduation, Sir Ian joined the family fishing and marine engineering business, becoming managing director of John Wood and Son.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
For his part, a heartbroken Son shared a statement on Instagram: “I don’t dare to convey the disappointment and hurt of the fans with a single word ‘sorry.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Just as life came through Pachamama, they believed, Mary was chosen by God as the mother through whom he sent his Son, who gave humanity the path to eternal life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The thing’s enormous, eight feet high and wide, with webs of wires and rows of rotating rotors—like something the Son of Frankenstein might have invented, if he’d been a brilliant code breaker.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
The Washington Post reported that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the president’s eldest sons, have a portfolio of tech companies that are raking in billions from the Pentagon.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
David Morton had enjoyed most of his week-long trip to Cap Ferret with his wife and two teenage sons in the forests under baking sun.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
The president has the largest following, with around 13 million users, while his sons and Vice President JD Vance are also widely followed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
This was the venture he had set up just before the 2024 election with his three sons—and with Steve Witkoff and his two sons.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
Abraham and Mary are pictured with sons Robert, Willie, and Tad.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
