1. A group of persons connected by blood, by affinity, or by law, esp. within two or three generations.
2. A group consisting of parents and their children.
3. A group of persons who live together and have a shared commitment to a domestic relationship. See RELATIVE. — familial, adj.
blended family. The combined families of persons with children from earlier marriages or relationships.
extended family.
1. The immediate family together with the collateral relatives who make up a clan; GENS.
2. The immediate family together with collateral relatives and close family friends.
immediate family.
1. A person’s parents, spouse, children, and siblings.
2. A person’s parents, spouse, children, and siblings, as well as those of the person’s spouse. • Stepchildren and adopted children are usu. immediate family members. For some purposes, such as taxes, a person’s immediate family may also include the spouses of children and siblings.
intact family. A family in which both parents live together with their children.
FAMILY ALLOWANCE
family allowance. See ALLOWANCE(1).
