blood relation
- noun
- /blʌd rɪˈleɪʃən/
- I was looking for a blood relation and thought he could help.
Examples
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You're my only sister—indeed, my only living blood relation—and I am an old man.
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Look at all the blood relations that the Kennedys have.
Fiction book (1994) -
Any blood relation of yours still living will be dead within the year.
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However, it's more okay as there is no blood relation between the two.
Blog text (3) -
I believe you renounced our blood relation last time I saw you.
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If you'd been a blood relation, it might have been different, but you are not.
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Call your blood relations.
Fiction book (1995) -
His sufferings were culminating, and here she was, his only flesh-and-blood relation to help at this dire moment.
Fiction book (1994) -
You're my only sister—indeed, my only living blood relation—and I am an old man.
Fiction book (1999) -
Many of the United States presidents have blood relations with each other.
Synonyms
A child of your aunt or uncle
A person who is in your family by blood or marriage
A person who is connected to you by blood or marriage
A child of your parent's first cousin who shares your great-grandparents but not your grandparents
A person in your family by birth, not by marriage or adoption
A man who is a family member by birth
A person who shares an ancestor with you, often a distant relative
A person who is related by blood and shares a common ancestor
A person who shares only one parent with a brother or sister
A relative who is from your mother's family
Relatives who come from the father's family line
A relative on the father's side of a family
A person who is related to you by blood or marriage
Antonyms
How Related
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a person related by birth' is directly derivable from combining 'blood' (hereditary lineage) with 'relation' (a kin connection), so the semantic composition transparently signals biological kinship. This is a conventional, cross-linguistically common way to express genetic family ties, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will reliably infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase blood relation comes from the simple image of family members sharing the same blood. The word relation just points to that family link. So it means 'a relative by birth' rather than by marriage.