kinship

/ˌkɪnˈʃɪp/

/ˈkɪnʃɪp/

Other forms: kinships

Kinship is a family relationship. You might describe the wonderful, close kinship you have with your favorite cousin.

Your kin is your family, so it's easy to see that kinship describes family bonds, like the kinship between members of the same Scottish clan or the kinship an uncle feels in the midst of a dozen crazy nieces and nephews. Kinship can also describe a close family-like relationship, like the kinship of the teachers at your school who have worked together for many years and who all care deeply about students and learning.

Definitions of kinship

1. noun

   (anthropology) relatedness or connection by blood or marriage or adoption
   synonyms: family relationship, relationship

   types:

   affinity, phylogenetic relation

   (biology) state of relationship between organisms or groups of organisms resulting in resemblance in structure or structural parts

   descent, filiation, line of descent, lineage

   the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors

   affinity

   (anthropology) kinship by marriage or adoption; not a blood relationship

   blood kinship, cognation, consanguinity

   (anthropology) related by blood

   birth, parentage

   the kinship relation of an offspring to the parents

   fatherhood, paternity

   the kinship relation between an offspring and the father

   maternity, motherhood

   the kinship relation between an offspring and the mother

   sisterhood, sistership

   the kinship relation between a female offspring and the siblings

   brotherhood

   the kinship relation between a male offspring and the siblings

   marital bed, marital relationship

   the relationship between wife and husband

   steprelationship

   a family relationship by virtue of remarriage

   bilateral descent

   line of descent traced through both the maternal and paternal sides of the family

   unilateral descent

   line of descent traced through one side of the family

   type of:

   relation

   an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together
2. noun

   a close connection marked by community of interests or similarity in nature or character
   “felt a deep kinship with the other students”

   “anthropology's kinship with the humanities”

   synonyms: affinity

   types:

   rapport, resonance

   a relationship of mutual understanding or trust and agreement between people

   sympathy

   a relation of affinity or harmony between people; whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other

   mutual affection, mutual understanding

   sympathy of each person for the other

   type of:

   relation

   an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together