kinship
Americannoun
-
the state or fact of being of kin; family relationship.
- Synonyms:
- connection
-
relationship by nature, qualities, etc.; affinity.
- Synonyms:
- bearing, connection
noun
-
blood relationship
-
the state of having common characteristics or a common origin
Synonym Usage
See relationship.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of kinship
Explanation
Kinship is a family relationship. You might describe the wonderful, close kinship you have with your favorite cousin. Your kin is your family, so it's easy to see that kinship describes family bonds, like the kinship between members of the same Scottish clan or the kinship an uncle feels in the midst of a dozen crazy nieces and nephews. Kinship can also describe a close family-like relationship, like the kinship of the teachers at your school who have worked together for many years and who all care deeply about students and learning.
Vocabulary lists containing kinship
It's All in the Family
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Human Geography - Middle School
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "J," "K," and "L"
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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.
See Examples For:
His people are ancient and few, a clan whose kinship with nature left them vulnerable to warring nobles who all but wiped them out.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
Delivering a toast, he said: "A blessing to the kinship between the Irish and Canadian people, may we always meet each other at the threshold and cross it together."
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
More than 2.4 million children across the U.S. are raised in grandfamilies, also known as kinship families.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026
Whether or not Church had deeply studied Ruskin, an aesthetic kinship is noticeable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
Seeing him lost in the labyrinths of kinship, trembling with uncertainty, the arthritic priest, who was watching him from his hammock, asked him compassionately what his name was.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Because the operations at most milk banks make it difficult for kinships to be traced, most religious scholars think that the banks "should be treated like breastfeeding," Ghaly says.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2021
There’s a strong resemblance to aspects of American Horror Story, which, like Pose, often unites feuding characters and invests heavily in the idea of queer kinships.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2018
Dobyns has forged deep friendships in the Native-American medicine communities over the years, says Amos, kinships she has been generous enough to share with Amos.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 7, 2017
Seeing it in one fell swoop requires reserves of concentration in the viewer — and possibly a flow chart of the people and their complex and shifting kinships.
From Time ● Aug. 22, 2011
So is it with men and women of glorious kinships in the realm of faith.
From My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year by Jowett, John Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
