(countable) A father, mother and their
sons and daughters; also called nuclear family.
Our Family lives in town.
(countable) A group of
people related by blood, marriage, law, or custom.
(countable) A kin, tribe; also called extended family.
(countable, biology, taxonomy) A
rank in the classification of organisms, below
order and above genus; a taxon at that rank.
Magnolias belong to the Family Magnoliaceae.
(countable) A group of
people who live together, or one that is similar to one that is related by blood, marriage, law, or custom, or members of one's intimate social group.
This is my fraternity Family at the university.
Our
company is one big happy family.
They treated me like family.
(countable) Any group or aggregation of things classed together as kindred or related from possessing in common characteristics which distinguish them from other things of the same order.
(countable, music) A group of instrument having the same basic method of tone production.
the brass family
the violin family
(countable, linguistics) A group of languages believed to have descended from the same ancestral language.
the Indo-European
language family
the Afro-Asiatic
language family
Used attributively.
The dog was kept as a Family pet.
For Apocynaceae, this type of flower is a Family characteristic.