familial
/fəˈmɪljəl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.22 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of or pertaining to a human family.
adj
Pertaining to a taxon at the rank of family.
adj
Example Sentences
- "Mark had to leave work due to familial obligations."
- "Asylums and the Care of the Insane.—Dr. Wille, the director of the recently opened asylum for the Canton of Zurich, at Rheinau, delivered a lecture on this subject to the Swiss Association of Alienists. […] In discussing the mode of providing for the incurable, he refers to the familial system and the agricultural colony. […] Another kind of familial treatment is when under similar circumstances improved patients are discharged from an establishment, but after their discharge they are still more or less looked after in connection with the establishment, and receive superintendence by the authorities, or by organised associations."
- "The Aztec artists strove with rare consistency to depict the gods as shocking. Though anthropomorphically conceived, however, the gods are still not presented to us as comprehensible. They are buried under a plethora of symbols and rendered inanimate by severe and rigid stylization. We are not asked to reply to the majesty of Huitzilopochtli, the sexuality of Tlazolteotl, the largess of Tlaloc, or the familial warmth of Xiuhteuctli. Rather we are placed in front of the grotesque, the absurd, the impossible, even the disgusting, and through these means we are asked to appreciate the nature of the gods."
- "In part [Antonio] Conte pulled this off because his manner and his own playing record demand respect. But also he brought back the fun, encouraging a familial atmosphere with barbecues, bottles of wine handed out, and bonding sessions with players and club staff."
- "Having milky latex is a familial characteristic of Apocynaceae."
- ""Grandfather", "mother", and "brother" are some English familial terms."
Etymology
From French familial (“relating to a family; familial”), from Latin familia (“family (in the sense of the slaves working for a household); household”) (from famulus (“servant; slave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁-m-eló-, from *dʰeh₁- (“to do, place, put”)) + French -al (adjective-forming suffix) (from Latin -ālis, from Proto-Indo-European *-li-). By surface analysis, family + -al. Piecewise doublet of familiar.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fəˈmɪljəl/
- British English: /fəˈmɪljəl/