family
1. fam.i.ly \'fam-(*-)le-\ n [ME familie, fr. L familia household
(including servants as well as] kin of the householder), fr. famulus
servant; perh. akin to Skt dha-man dwelling place 1: FELLOWSHIP 2: a group
of persons of common ancestry : CLAN 3: a group of individuals living
under one roof and usu. under one head : HOUSEHOLD 4a: a group of things
related by common characteristics or properties 4b: a group of soils that
have similar profiles and include one or more ser ies 5: the basic unit in
society having as its nucleus two or more adults livin g together and
cooperating in the care and rearing of their own or adopted children 6a: a
group of related plants or animals forming a category ranking above a
genus and below an order and usu. comprising several to many genera in
livestock breeding 6b1: the descendants or line of a particular individual
esp. of some outsta nding female 6b2: an identifiable strain within a breed
6c: an ecological community consisting of a single kind of organism and
usu . being of limited extent and representing an early stage of succession
7: a set of curves or surfaces whose equations differ only in parameters
2. family aj : of or relating to a family