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in-law

/ˌɪn ˈlɔ/
/ˈɪnlɔ/
IPA guide

Other forms: in-laws

An in-law is someone who is a relative because of marriage, like your husband's sister or your wife's father. You can refer to your spouse's entire family as your in-laws.

In some countries, a married woman moves in with her in-laws, symbolically becoming part of their family. In the U.S. some families live with extended family members — a man may live with his wife, kids, and his mother- and father-in-law — but more often each individual nuclear family lives separately. In-law originally meant "anyone of a relationship not natural" or "not by blood."

Definitions of in-law
  1. noun
    a relative by marriage
    synonyms: relative-in-law
    see moresee less
    types:
    brother-in-law
    a brother by marriage
    daughter-in-law
    the wife of your son
    father-in-law
    the father of your spouse
    mother-in-law
    the mother of your spouse
    sister-in-law
    the sister of your spouse
    son-in-law
    the husband of your daughter
    type of:
    relation, relative
    a person related by blood or marriage
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