nuclear family
| a social unit composed of father, mother, and children. |
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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| nuclear family n. A family unit consisting of a mother and father and their children. [From nuclear, basic, cardinal, central.] |
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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nuclear family
A type of family made up only of parents and their children. (Compare extended family.)
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Main Entry: nuclear family
Function: noun
: a family group that consists only of father, mother, and children —see
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nuclear family n.
A family unit consisting of a mother and father and their progeny.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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nuclear family
in sociology and anthropology, a group of people who are united by ties of partnership and parenthood and consisting of a pair of adults and their socially recognized children. Typically, but not always, the adults in a nuclear family are married. Although such couples are most often a man and a woman, the definition of the nuclear family has expanded with the advent of same-sex marriage. Children in a nuclear family may be the couple's biological or adopted offspring.
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