Word.ws English Dictionary

in a family way

in a family way prepositional phrase: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see family, way. Also the alternative form of in the family way.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see family, way.
    • Why don't we ask him and his ladies to come over in a family way and dine with some other plain country gentlefolks?1859, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 58, in The Virginians
    • The congregation agrees in a family way to take care of them for life.2002 August 9, John Rivera, “Religious orders set to adopt milder stance on sex abusers”, in Baltimore Sun, retrieved 11 Aug 2008

Also used as

in a family way is also the alternative form of in the family way.

Questions about in a family way

What does in a family way mean?
In a family way means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see family, way.
What part of speech is in a family way?
In a family way is a prepositional phrase.

Words near in a family way in the dictionary

  1. in a corner
  2. in a couple of shakes
  3. in a crack
  4. in a dither
  5. in a fair way
  6. in a family way
  7. in a few shakes
  8. in a fix
  9. in a flap
  10. in a flash
  11. in a flat spin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: in a family way (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-in a family way.wav.

Cite this entry: “in a family way.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/in_a_family_way. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.