superfamily

American  

[soo-per-fam-uh-lee, -fam-lee] / ˈsu pərˌfæm ə li, -ˌfæm li /

noun

Biology.

• superfamilies
  plural

1. a category of related families within an order or suborder.

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superfamily British  

/ ˈsuːpəˌfæmɪlɪ /

noun

1. biology a taxonomic group that is a subdivision of a suborder

2. any analogous group, such as a group of related languages

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superfamily Scientific  

/ so̅o̅′pər-făm′ə-lē /

1. A taxonomic category of related organisms ranking below an order or its subdivisions and containing one or more families. The names of superfamilies in the animal kingdom end in –oidea, such as Hominoidea, the primate superfamily containing the family of apes (Pongidae) and the family of humans (Hominidae).

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• superfamilies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of superfamily

First recorded in 1870–75; super- + family

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

superfamily superfamilies

The expanded dataset also allowed researchers to reconstruct, for the first time, how both maternal and paternal care evolved within the superfamily Gonyleptoidea.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026

Tyrannosauroids are the superfamily of carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs.

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2025

There are far fewer moths and hoverflies than there were 125 years ago; now, flowers are being swarmed with muscoid flies, which are a superfamily including houseflies.

From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2023

The team’s findings around another group of dinosaurs — the diverse superfamily of herbivores called ornithischians — were more surprising still.

From New York Times ● May 28, 2022

By some classifications, all the animals that appear in Chapter VII are part of the superfamily Muroidea within the rodent family.

From The Rambles of a Rat by A. L. O. E.

The Knowles-Carters became one of the Black superfamilies of the 2010s.

From Salon ● Dec. 27, 2019

Though he found a statistical difference between the two superfamilies, Dr. Iijima noted that does not necessarily mean the differences have had a noticeable effect.

From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 2018

All major superfamilies of DNA transposons were represented, showing a dispersed or slightly centromere-enriched distribution along the chromosomes.

From Nature ● Jan. 22, 2014

As superfamilies go, the Mellons are remarkably unknown to the public.

From Time Magazine Archive

The great suborder of butterflies is commonly separated into two principal groups called superfamilies.

From Butterflies Worth Knowing by Clarence M. Weed