Showing results for stepchild. Search instead for stepchildren.

stepchild

American

[step-chahyld] / ˈstɛpˌtʃaɪld /

noun

plural

stepchildren

a child of one's spouse by a previous marriage.
any person, organization, affiliate, project, etc., that is not properly treated, supported, or appreciated.

This agency is the stepchild when appropriations are handed out.

stepchild British

/ ˈstɛpˌtʃaɪld /

noun

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

Etymology

Origin of stepchild

before 1000; Middle English; Old English stēopcild. See step-, child

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.

In one episode you'd be doing "outrageously stupid", "slapstick" story lines, and the next you'd be sobbing over the coffin of your dead stepchild, Woodburne says.

From BBC • Dec. 10, 2025

This is a weak stepchild for these pharmaceutical companies.

From Slate • Dec. 4, 2025

One Moneyist Facebook Group member gave the flipside of your dilemma, from the perspective of a stepchild.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 11, 2025

West Sacramento has long been the region’s scrawny stepchild of a municipality.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2025

Virtually the same applies in Egyptology, in which the study of the Ptolemaic “late period” has long been the neglected stepchild of a discipline engrossed by the Rameseses and Thut- moses of high antiquity.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023