stepchild

[ step-chahyld ]

noun,plural step·child·ren.
  1. a child of one's spouse by a previous marriage.

  2. any person, organization, affiliate, project, etc., that is not properly treated, supported, or appreciated: This agency is the stepchild when appropriations are handed out.

Origin of stepchild

1
before 1000; Middle English; Old English stēopcild.See step-, child

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use stepchild in a sentence

  • This was the same Ino who cared so tenderly for the infant Bacchus; but to her stepchildren she was very cruel.

  • "One o' Pap Himes's stepchildren mighty near killed, they say," the boy told him.

    The Power and the Glory | Grace MacGowan Cooke
  • Her manner blamed Helen for her own lack of self-control; but to this her stepchildren were accustomed, and Helen felt no anger.

    Moor Fires | E. H. (Emily Hilda) Young
  • But she had a very pleasant home, and her stepchildren proved tractable.

    A Little Girl of Long Ago | Amanda Millie Douglas
  • He carefully designated thirty for his stepchildren and twenty-one for his wife.

British Dictionary definitions for stepchild

stepchild

/ (ˈstɛpˌtʃaɪld) /


nounplural -children
  1. a stepson or stepdaughter

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012