FAMILIES

Noun

families

plural of family

Anagrams

• Filsaime

Source: Wiktionary


FAMILY

Fam"i*ly, n.; pl. Families. Etym: [L. familia, fr. famulus servant; akin to Oscan famel servant, cf. faamat he dwells, Skr. dhaman house, fr. dhato set, make, do: cf. F. famille. Cf. Do, v. t., Doom, Fact, Feat.]

1. The collective body of persons who live in one house, and under one head or manager; a household, including parents, children, and servants, and, as the case may be, lodgers or boarders.

2. The group comprising a husband and wife and their dependent children, constituting a fundamental unit in the organization of society. The welfare of the family underlies the welfare of society. H. Spencer.

3. Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe, clan, or race; kindred; house; as, the human family; the family of Abraham; the father of a family. Go ! and pretennd your family is young. Pope.

4. Course of descent; genealogy; line of ancestors; lineage.

5. Honorable descent; noble or respectable stock; as, a man of family.

6. A groupe of kindred or closely related individuals; as, a family of languages; a family of States; the chlorine family.

7. (Biol.)

Definition: A groupe of organisms, either animal or vegetable, related by certain points of resemblance in structure or development, more comprehensive than a genus, because it is usually based on fewer or less pronounced points of likeness. In zoölogy a family is less comprehesive than an order; in botany it is often considered the same thing as an order. Family circle. See under Circle.

– Family man. (a) A man who has a family; esp., one who has a wife and children living with him andd dependent upon him. (b) A man of domestic habits. "The Jews are generally, when married, most exemplary family men." Mayhew.

– Family of curves or surfaces (Geom.), a group of curves or surfaces derived from a single equation.

– In a family way, like one belonging to the family. "Why don't we ask him and his ladies to come over in a family way, and dine with some other plain country gentlefolks" Thackeray.

– In the family way, pregnant. [Colloq.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

1 March 2025

AROMATIC

(adjective) (chemistry) of or relating to or containing one or more benzene rings; “an aromatic organic compound”


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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