son

[suhn]

noun

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.

a male person looked upon as the product or result of particular agencies, forces, influences, etc.: a true son of the soil.

a familiar term of address to a man or boy from an older person, an ecclesiastic, etc.

the Son, the second person of the Trinity; Jesus Christ.

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

Related formsson·less, adjectiveson·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sons

boy, heir, offspring, descendant, relative, sibling, child, dependent, junior, scion, lad, male, disciple, native, fils, ben

Examples from the Web for sons

Contemporary Examples of sons

Brands like Lo & Sons and Delsey are already tapping Travel Noire to connect with black travelers.
‘We Out Here’: Inside the New Black Travel Movement
Charlise Ferguson
January 4, 2015
How many husbands, wives, sons, and daughters have we lost to a broken system?
Dear Leelah, We Will Fight On For You: A Letter to a Dead Trans Teen
Parker Molloy
January 1, 2015
I know that I cannot carry a gun in public and neither can my sons, even if it is a toy.
What Would Happen if I Got in White Cop’s Face?
Goldie Taylor
December 30, 2014
Both the Ramos sons squeezed their eyes and lowered their heads, doing their best not to cry.
Choking Back Tears, Thousands of Cops Honor Fallen Officer Ramos
Michael Daly
December 28, 2014
That goodness steered him clear of the Sex Boys, the Crazy Homicides, the Sons of Nuns, and the other gangs of East New York.
In The Shadow of Murdered Cops
Michael Daly
December 26, 2014

Historical Examples of sons

In reply he offers me, as if I were a beggar, employment for my sons.
The Raid From Beausejour; And How The Carter Boys Lifted The Mortgage
Charles G. D. Roberts
To the fear of losing our money is now added the fear of losing our sons.
The Conquest of Fear
Basil King
Most fathers know little of their sons and less of their daughters.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
He had not grown vicious, as have so many of his fellows among the sons of the rich.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana
He goes on to condemn the scene between Gloucester and his sons in the same way.
The Man Shakespeare
Frank Harris

British Dictionary definitions for sons

son

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 environmenta son of the circus; a son of the manse

Related formsRelated adjective: filial

Derived Formssonless, adjectivesonlike, adjective

Word Origin for son

Old English sunu; related to Old Norse sunr, Gothic sunus, Old High German sunu, Lithuanian sūnus, Sanskrit sūnu

Son

noun

Christianity the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sons

son

Old English sunu "son, descendant," from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian sunu, Old Norse sonr, Danish søn, Swedish son, Middle Dutch sone, Dutch zoon, Old High German sunu, German Sohn, Gothic sunus "son").

The Germanic words are from PIE *su(e)-nu- "son" (cf. Sanskrit sunus, Greek huios, Avestan hunush, Armenian ustr, Lithuanian sunus, Old Church Slavonic synu, Russian and Polish syn "son"), a derived noun from root *seue- (1) "to give birth" (cf. Sanskrit sauti "gives birth," Old Irish suth "birth, offspring"). Son of _____ as the title of a sequel to a book or movie is recorded from 1929 ("Son of Tarzan").

Idioms and Phrases with sons

son

In addition to the idiom beginning with son

song and dance
son of a bitch

also see:

favorite son
like father, like son