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definitions

stepchild

[step-chahyld]
noun, plural step·child·ren.
  1. a child of one's spouse by a previous marriage.
  2. any person, organization, affiliate, project, etc., that is not properly treated, supported, or appreciated: This agency is the stepchild when appropriations are handed out.

Origin of stepchild

before 1000; Middle English; Old English stēopcild. See step-, child
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for stepchild

Contemporary Examples of stepchild

  • Being a stepchild, she noted, set her as an outsider within a family, and gave her a yearning to conform.

    The Daily Beast logo
    The Book on Aging Rockers

    Jane Ciabattari

    June 29, 2010

Historical Examples of stepchild

  • You see I'm—I mean I was a stepchild 'long as father was here.

    Mary-'Gusta

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • Malone exempted him, he being the sole support of his stepchild.

    The Flaming Jewel

    Robert W. Chambers

  • Tom Brangwen never loved his own son as he loved his stepchild Anna.

    The Rainbow

    D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

  • She not only despised but hated her stepchild from the moment that she saw her.

  • And she had half-a-dozen servants; the tenor's stepchild was wheeled to the Heath now in fine apparel by a competent nurse.

    The Quaint Companions

    Leonard Merrick

British Dictionary definitions for stepchild

stepchild

noun plural -children
  1. a stepson or stepdaughter
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