extended family

Definition of extended family

: a family that includes in one household near relatives (such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles) in addition to a nuclear family Given space, there are ways in which even larger populations than the extended family can be accommodated under one roof.— Paul Oliver also : an extensive group of people who are related by blood or marriage or who otherwise regard themselves as a large family Four out of every five people who go through a first divorce remarry … . Thus it is that husbands and wives, their former partners, children and stepchildren, and a whole constellation of grandparents and other relatives are brought together in the new American extended family. — Michael Norman During his five years at Owen High, he turned his teams into an extended family and tried to instill in his players the same sense of self-worth that Baldwin had imparted to him years before. — William Nack

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Examples of extended family in a Sentence

their extended family includes a grandmother and widowed aunt

Recent Examples on the Web Investigators contacted extended family members, none of whom had been in contact with the children since September. — Jay Cannon, USA TODAY, "Will Lori Vallow present her missing Idaho children to authorities? Deadline fast approaches," 30 Jan. 2020 Investigators contacted extended family members, none of whom had been in contact with the children since September. — Jay Cannon, USA TODAY, "Will Lori Vallow present her missing Idaho children to authorities? Deadline fast approaches," 30 Jan. 2020 Investigators contacted extended family members, none of whom had been in contact with the children since September. — Rachel Leingang, azcentral, "Mom of 2 missing kids found in Hawaii with new husband," 27 Jan. 2020 Bonnie is survived by her husband, Dennis, three children and their spouses, five grandchildren, many extended family members, and friends. — sun-sentinel.com, "Deaths in South Florida: 12/1," 1 Dec. 2019 A few users tweeted their comical reactions to having to interact with their younger extended family members until the social media services were restored. — Benjamin Vanhoose, PEOPLE.com, "Instagram & Facebook Outages Prompt Social Media Users to Hilariously Freak Out on Thanksgiving," 28 Nov. 2019 This is bothersome not only to my wife and me, but to her other sisters and extended family members. — Judith Martin, Washington Post, "Miss Manners: Maintaining privacy without making up stories," 12 Nov. 2019 In this remote, mountainous part of northern Mexico, extended family members found the horrific scene before authorities did. — Holly Yan, CNN, "A baby named Faith survived the Mexico ambush killings. Her slain mother may have saved her," 7 Nov. 2019 Perfect for: Ex football (or softball) players who want to show off for their dates, beer drinkers, extended family get-togethers. — Andrea Reeves, Cincinnati.com, "Bowling alleys aren't dead. They're just a lot different. We tried the new trends," 23 Jan. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'extended family.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

21 Mar 2020

Cite this Entry

“Extended family.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extended%20family. Accessed 1 Apr. 2020.

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