noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   One's spouse's father.
2. 2
   the father of your spouse wordnet
3. 3
   A stepfather. obsolete

   "`Yes,` replied Snawley. `The fact is, I am not their father, Mr Squeers. I'm only their father-in-law.`"

Synonyms

All synonyms

stepfather

Example

More examples

"My wife's father is my father-in-law."

Etymology

From Middle English fader in lawe, fadyr-in-lay, fader yn lawe, equivalent to father + -in-law.

Related phrases

co-father-in-lawstepfather-in-law

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.