a social unit living together; "he moved his family to Virginia"; "It was a good Christian household"; "I waited until the whole house was asleep"; "the teacher asked how many people made up his home"
Used in a Sentence
family
How to use family in a sentence. Example sentences and definitions for family.
Editorial note
My mom relies on it, so does a lot of my family.
Examples10
Definitions8
Parts of speech1
Quick take
a social unit living together; "he moved his family to Virginia"; "It was a good Christian household"; "I waited until the whole house was asleep"; "the teacher asked how many people made up his home"
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of family gathered in one view.
primary social group; parents and children; "he wanted to have a good job before starting a family"
a collection of things sharing a common attribute; "there are two classes of detergents"
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for family.
noun
a social unit living together; "he moved his family to Virginia"; "It was a good Christian household"; "I waited until the whole house was asleep"; "the teacher asked how many people made up his home"
noun
primary social group; parents and children; "he wanted to have a good job before starting a family"
noun
a collection of things sharing a common attribute; "there are two classes of detergents"
noun
people descended from a common ancestor; "his family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower"
noun
a person having kinship with another or others; "he's kin"; "he's family"
See also: kin, kinsperson
noun
(biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more genera; "sharks belong to the fish family"
noun
a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities
noun
an association of people who share common beliefs or activities; "the message was addressed not just to employees but to every member of the company family"; "the church welcomed new members into its fellowship"
See also: fellowship
Example sentences
My mom relies on it, so does a lot of my family.
If you choose to 'come out' of your office and engage with the family then that is your choice.
We are not "family".We are the people who called him Paris Hilton and told him to man up.
Otherwise when some trucker nearly drives you off the road because they have to feed their family, you're just getting what you paid for.
Teachers are forced to build a profile of every child in their class along with a description of his/her family's situation.
Sometimes he'd get their wives/husbands on the phone, and he'd nicely explain that he was an artist, and would they mind if he borrowed the family photo album?
We didn't treat him as badly as we could have, as we've treated some other people, but I think trying to recast ourselves as "family" is incredibly disrespectful of his actual family who lost their child.
As I learned Mandarin Chinese up to the level that I was able to support my family for several years as a Chinese-English translator and interpreter, I had to tackle several problems for which there is not yet a one-stop-shopping software solution.
However, in the immediately previous paragraph, he noted:> one employee spied on a spouseSo much for automated analysis, besides not being able to filter out US citizens' data it can't even filter out an employee's direct family.
While it's encouraging to see such a thorough debunking of the latest security theater technology, it's always been security theater... Allow me a few quick anecdotes:My family is friends with a gentleman who was a green beret medic during Viet Nam, and later worked for the CIA.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use family in a sentence?
My mom relies on it, so does a lot of my family.
What does family mean?
a social unit living together; "he moved his family to Virginia"; "It was a good Christian household"; "I waited until the whole house was asleep"; "the teacher asked how many people made up his home"
What part of speech is family?
family is commonly used as noun.