stepmother

American  

[step-muhth-er] / ˈstɛpˌmʌð ər /

noun

• stepmothers
  plural

1. the wife, by a later marriage, of one's parent.

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stepmother British  

/ ˈstɛpˌmʌðə /

noun

1. a woman who has married one's father after the death or divorce of one's mother

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• stepmotherliness
  noun
• stepmotherly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• stepmothers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of stepmother

First recorded before 900; Middle English stepmoder, Old English stēopmōdor; step- + mother ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stepmother stepmothers

And, as David Kissinger put it: “My stepmother came from this Waspy world, straight out of a Katharine Hepburn film, and my father was a refugee from Nazi Germany.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

The trial heard Johnston had previously been in a relationship with Brown's stepmother.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

Ramirez, who grew up in Bellflower, found his way to food truck manufacturing through his stepmother.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

A second crisis hit Flavio's campaign when his stepmother, Michelle Bolsonaro, posted an Instagram video saying he had "disrespected me and mistreated me ... he said I didn't understand anything about politics."

From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026

“Is that so? Well, I thought I’d let you have the vacation your Pa and stepmother wanted for you. There’s plenty of ironing if you’re bored. Teach you what wash day is all about.”

From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia

And you thought spiteful stepmothers wreaked havoc only in fairy tales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

My tone may sound alarmist, but it’s my attempt to be realistic, especially based on the number of letters I receive from and about stepmothers in this column.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 20, 2026

“You might not have that money, but you have siblings, you have stepmothers, you have mothers — you have relationships and the complexities of blended families.”

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 30, 2022

Whatever rehabilitation wicked stepmothers have undergone of late encounters a setback in “White as Snow.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 12, 2021

Frequently they were orphaned, brought up by nuns or stepmothers who made them do all the housework.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago