Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
stepfamily

stepfamily

3 3.2
A family where at least one parent has children from a previous relationship
  • noun
  • /ˈstɛpˌfæmɪli/
: familia reconstituida
  • Many children find it challenging to adjust to life in a stepfamily after their parents remarry.
  • stepfamily youngsters
  • adolescents from a stepfamily

Why is Stepfamily such a popular thing?

Examples

  • The research to which Popenoe refers studies two-parent families, single-parent families, and stepfamilies.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The third explanation concerns the changed family structure after divorce and the formation of a stepfamily.

    Academic text (1997)

  • I thought this was a good article on many stepfamily issues...

    Blog text (25)

  • Each person in the nuclear and extended stepfamily may have suffered a loss of position and territory.

    Blog text (25)

  • Within the new stepfamily, the absent father may also suffer from bad press.

    Blog text (25)

  • The well-functioning stepfamily provides the child with many more people resources.

    Blog text (25)

  • Youngsters from stepfamilies score better on these variables than do those from single-parent families.

    Academic text (1997)

  • But because of today's divorce rate, we live in a society of many single-parent and stepfamilies.

    Blog text (18)

  • In stepfamilies, 93% are stepfather families and 7% are stepmother families.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Communication is key for harmony in a stepfamily where both children and parents are navigating new relationships.

Surface Forms

stepfamily singular
stepfamilies plural

Morphology

stepfamily = step + family (transparent) = step + family

Clear compound of 'step' (kinship by marriage) + 'family' yielding the expected meaning of a family including step-relations.

Etymology

Stepfamily comes from the prefix step, which in old English was used for someone who had 'lost a parent' and then gained a new one by marriage, and family. A helpful way to remember it is to think of a new 'step' being added to a family when a parent marries again, so a stepfamily includes children and parents from before and after that marriage.