stepfather

American  

[step-fah-ther] / ˈstɛpˌfɑ ðər /

noun

• stepfathers
  plural

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

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stepfather British  

/ ˈstɛpˌfɑːðə /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• stepfatherly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• stepfathers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of stepfather

First recorded before 900; Middle English stepfader, Old English stēopfæder; step- + father ( def. )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stepfather stepfathers

Acton has said the last time she saw her mother was in the courtroom after her stepfather was charged, when her mother rebuffed her kiss.

From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026

In a 2019 interview with a Youngstown newspaper, Acton said her stepfather was arrested and faced criminal charges and that she hasn’t seen her mom since they went to court in connection with the case.

From Slate ● Oct. 20, 2026

In Charles Dickens’s “David Copperfield,” the stepfather is cruel to the point of unhinged.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

“Unlike Xavier Becerra, I am an immigrant. Unlike Xavier Becerra, my father was an immigrant. My stepfather too. My whole family,” Hilton wrote in a post on X.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

My stepfather worked as a furnace fireman for the New York City Housing Authority, fixing and maintaining the huge boilers that heated the Red Hook Housing Projects where we lived then.

From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride

One of those he investigated was Matthew White, and Clive told an extraordinary tale of finding that an approach by one of White's stepfathers had been disastrously mishandled by the Met in 1993.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2023

Her parents were not married, and she had several stepfathers, the result being a fluidity in her surname, the New York Times reported in an obituary.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 7, 2017

Ditto became a straight-talking icon, as happy to discuss her challenging upbringing with her God-fearing mother and various stepfathers as she was the political, cultural, gender and sexuality issues that fired and inspired her.

From The Guardian ● May 28, 2017

This year’s recruitment night for fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, guardians, uncles and others to the school is scheduled for Oct.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 19, 2014

He knew genealogies and geography; he could talk with courtiers about their aunts and cousins, and stepfathers and mothers-in-law—which is a great lift to conversation for some minds.

From English Lands Letters and Kings Queen Anne and the Georges by Donald G. Mitchell

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