IN-LAW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does in-law mean? 

• IN-LAW (noun)
  The noun IN-LAW has 1 sense:

1. a relative by marriage

  Familiarity information: IN-LAW used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IN-LAW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A relative by marriage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

in-law; relative-in-law

Hypernyms ("in-law" is a kind of...):

relation; relative (a person related by blood or marriage)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "in-law"):

brother-in-law (a brother by marriage)

daughter-in-law (the wife of your son)

father-in-law (the father of your spouse)

mother-in-law (the mother of your spouse)

sister-in-law (the sister of your spouse)

son-in-law (the husband of your daughter)

 Context examples 

Emma's attempts to stop her father had been vain; and when he had reached such a point as this, she could not wonder at her brother-in-law's breaking out.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

"Go to the devil!" was his brother-in-law's recommendation.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And she did not feel much delighted with the idea of such a sister-in-law.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

They go about with her, now, more like her keepers than her husband and sister-in-law.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Hal and his sister and brother-in-law listened unwillingly, pitched tent, and overhauled the outfit.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“Such a sister-in-law, Henry, I should delight in,” said Eleanor with a smile.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It was seen by some farmer, and he told the miller, and the miller told the butcher, and the butcher's son-in-law left word at the shop.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

When tea was over, Mr. Hurst reminded his sister-in-law of the card-table—but in vain.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

If anything could have driven me from Gladys, it would have been the thought of such a father-in-law.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Martin contented himself by picturing his brother-in-law's surprise on Sunday morning when he opened his Examiner and saw the article on the treasure-hunters.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)