Co-in-law
//koʊˈɪnlɔː// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A distant in-law: A relationship by marriage with a separation by three degrees (two people), compared to prototypical in-laws, where the separation is two/one. The separation may be two degrees of blood kin and one of marriage (addressing the mother of the husband of one's daughter), or one degree blood and two of marriage (addressing the brother-in-law of one's brother, or, similarly, addressing the wife of the brother of one's husband). rare
"My co-in-law and I took our granddaughter to the zoo. [= co-parent-in-law]"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"My co-in-law and I took our granddaughter to the zoo. [= co-parent-in-law]"
Etymology
* co- + -in-law The usage comes from the reciprocal relationship of the two people separating the people in question, such as two men who are each father-in-law to one of the parents of their grandchildren.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.