In-law

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A relative by marriage (or through affinity). in-plural, often

    "Louie: 'Neither boiling nor baking can diminish this creature's overpowering musky scent. Only suitable for serving to unpleasant in-laws.'"

  2. 2
    a relative by marriage wordnet
  3. 3
    Sometimes specifically a parent-in-law of one's child, for which the dedicated terms co-mother-in-law, co-father-in-law are rare.

Synonyms

All synonyms
affinerelative-in-law

Example

More examples

"Louie: 'Neither boiling nor baking can diminish this creature's overpowering musky scent. Only suitable for serving to unpleasant in-laws.'"

Etymology

Back-formation from -in-law.

Related phrases

co-in-lawin-law suitein-lawhood

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