[fam-uh-lee, fam-lee] 
noun, plural -lies, adjective | 1. | parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not. |
| 2. | the children of one person or one couple collectively: We want a large family. |
| 3. | the spouse and children of one person: We're taking the family on vacation next week. |
| 4. | any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins: to marry into a socially prominent family. |
| 5. | all those persons considered as descendants of a common progenitor. |
| 6. | Chiefly British. approved lineage, esp. noble, titled, famous, or wealthy ancestry: young men of family. |
| 7. | a group of persons who form a household under one head, including parents, children, and servants. |
| 8. | the staff, or body of assistants, of an official: the office family. |
| 9. | a group of related things or people: the family of romantic poets; the halogen family of elements. |
| 10. | a group of people who are generally not blood relations but who share common attitudes, interests, or goals and, frequently, live together: Many hippie communes of the sixties regarded themselves as families. |
| 11. | a group of products or product models made by the same manufacturer or producer. |
| 12. | Biology. the usual major subdivision of an order or suborder in the classification of plants, animals, fungi, etc., usually consisting of several genera. |
| 13. | Slang. a unit of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra operating in one area under a local leader. |
| 14. | Linguistics. the largest category into which languages related by common origin can be classified with certainty: Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Austronesian are the most widely spoken families of languages. Compare stock (def. 12), subfamily (def. 2). |
| 15. | Mathematics.
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| 16. | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a family: a family trait. |
| 17. | belonging to or used by a family: a family automobile; a family room. |
| 18. | suitable or appropriate for adults and children: a family amusement park. |
| 19. | not containing obscene language: a family newspaper. |
| 20. | in a or the family way, pregnant. |
In biology, the classification lower than an order and higher than a genus. Lions, tigers, cheetahs, and house cats belong to the same biological family. Human beings belong to the biological family of hominids. (See Linnean classification.)
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in a family way
and in the family way
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family fam·i·ly (fām'ə-lē, fām'lē)
n.
A group of blood relatives, especially parents and their children.
A taxonomic category of related organisms ranking below an order and above a genus.
in the family way
Pregnant, as in Mary's in the family way again. This euphemistic expression dates from the late 1700s and may be dying out.
