extended family

noun

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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Synonyms for extended family

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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 Reading Archie comics under the table during elaborate banquet dinners in Chinatown with extended family (which always ended with aunties and uncles fighting over the check; family takes care of family). — Jeanine Celeste Pang, Vogue, "How Becoming a Mother Helped Me Connect to My Chinese Heritage," 5 May 2021 My husband comes from a very large, very close extended family that does just about everything together. — Washington Post, "Carolyn Hax: New baby, pushy grandma, passive husband, boom," 6 Apr. 2021 In one day, Vania Tovar, 28, had her father, half-sister and members of her large, tight-knit extended family ripped away. — Los Angeles Times, "‘They were so innocent’: Orange mass shooting shattered a family business; victims remembered," 3 Apr. 2021 Their extended family, 20 deep, never missed a year, a fact captured during a 2018 episode of the Minnesota Bound television program. — Dee Depass, Star Tribune, "Mary Kay Carr, deli counter worker and garden center enthusiast, dies at 72," 2 Apr. 2021 About three dozen members of his extended family, including his stepgrandmother, joined him at his hotel for dinner around long banquet tables. — New York Times, "Sarah Onyango Obama, Ex-President’s Stepgrandmother, Dies at 99," 29 Mar. 2021 The extended family – including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and in-laws – numbers 45. — oregonlive, "When he died of COVID-19, Portland father knew he had done all he could to make his children’s lives better," 19 Mar. 2021 As nightly family dinners like this have become rare, guests are probably involved, and yes, that may include the extended family at holiday meals. — Washington Post, "Miss Manners: What counts as a ‘formal dinner’?," 19 Apr. 2021 The extended family now has three locations that offer generous helpings of the luscious meat. — Louisa Chu, chicagotribune.com, "24 corned beef sandwiches you have to try in Chicago and the suburbs — even if you get a freebie from Manny’s," 26 Mar. 2021

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

11 May 2021

Cite this Entry

“Extended family.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extended%20family. Accessed 14 May. 2021.

Style: MLA

MLA