Meaning & use
blended families
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
Families formed when parents marry or live together and bring children from earlier relationships.
Grammar: Countable; usually plural. The singular 'blended family' is used for one such family.
Patterns
- a blended family
- children in blended families
- grow up in a blended family
Many schools now have programs to support children from blended families.
After their wedding, they became a blended family with four kids between them.
Blended families often need time to adjust to new routines and relationships.
Word forms
| singular | blended family |
|---|
Common combinations
- a blended family
- They are a blended family with children from both previous marriages.
- children in blended families
- Children in blended families may feel torn between two households.
- blended family dynamics
- The counselor specializes in blended family dynamics.
- blended family vacation
- Planning a blended family vacation can be complicated but rewarding.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stepfamily
- Stepfamily focuses on the stepparent relationship; blended family is broader and emphasizes the mixing of two families.
- reconstituted family
- A formal, mostly British term used in sociology; blended family is the everyday term.
Opposites
Word family
- blend verb
- To mix things together smoothly.
Commonly confused: blended families or extended family?
blended families vs extended family
Extended family means relatives beyond the parents and children, such as grandparents, aunts, and uncles; blended family refers to the combining of two families through remarriage or cohabitation.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'blended families' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Blended family' is a countable noun; option 1 has a subject-verb agreement error, option 2 uses 'blend' as a verb incorrectly, and option 3 is nonsense. Option 1 correctly uses the singular form with the right meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “blended families”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.