ALL meanings of families
fam·i·ly
F f - noun families Plural form of family. 1
- noun plural families a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not: the traditional family. a social unit consisting of one or more adults together with the children they care for: a single-parent family. 1
- noun plural families the children of one person or one couple collectively: We want a large family. 1
- noun plural families the spouse and children of one person: We're taking the family on vacation next week. 1
- noun plural families any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins: to marry into a socially prominent family. 1
- noun plural families all those persons considered as descendants of a common progenitor. 1
- noun plural families Chiefly British. approved lineage, especially noble, titled, famous, or wealthy ancestry: young men of family. 1
- noun plural families a group of persons who form a household under one head, including parents, children, and servants. 1
- noun plural families the staff, or body of assistants, of an official: the office family. 1
- noun plural families a group of related things or people: the family of romantic poets; the halogen family of elements. 1
- noun plural families a group of people who are generally not blood relations but who share common attitudes, interests, or goals and, frequently, live together: Many hippie communes of the sixties regarded themselves as families. 1
- noun plural families a group of products or product models made by the same manufacturer or producer. 1
- noun plural families Biology. the usual major subdivision of an order or suborder in the classification of plants, animals, fungi, etc., usually consisting of several genera. 1
- noun plural families Slang. a unit of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra operating in one area under a local leader. 1
- noun plural families Linguistics. the largest category into which languages related by common origin can be classified with certainty: Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Austronesian are the most widely spoken families of languages. Compare stock (def 12), subfamily (def 2). 1
- noun plural families Mathematics. a given class of solutions of the same basic equation, differing from one another only by the different values assigned to the constants in the equation. a class of functions or the like defined by an expression containing a parameter. a set. 1
- adjective families of, relating to, or characteristic of a family: a family trait. 1
- adjective families belonging to or used by a family: a family automobile; a family room. 1
- adjective families suitable or appropriate for adults and children: a family amusement park. 1
- adjective families not containing obscene language: a family newspaper. 1
- idioms families in a / the family way, pregnant. 1