stepfather
Syllables: step·fa·ther
stepfather noun: the husband of one's biological mother after her initial marriage to or relationship with one's biological father.
Noun
stepfather (plural stepfathers)
- The husband of one's biological mother after her initial marriage to or relationship with one's biological father.
- My stepfather loved me as much as he loved his own three sons. I knew how much he wanted to help me and how lacking in financial resources he was. Nothing could erase the image I gained of my real father that day: a carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams...1980, Gerald Ford, “Boyhood—and Beyond”, in A Time to Heal, New York: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 47
- The husband of one's parent distinct from one's biological father or person with a similar relationship.
- In suboptimal cases the gynaecologist takes sperm from anonymous donors. In this case the husband can only be stepfather of the child.2015, Werner A. Mueller, Monika Hassel, Maura Grealy, Development and Reproduction in Humans and Animal Model Species, Springer, →ISBN, page 188, column 2
- Telegony or Inheritance from the Stepfather
The earliest reference to telegony ( which has no connection with the son of Odysseus ) is supposed to be in 1665 but the classical case is that described in the Philosophical Transactions of[…]1953, Cyril Dean Darlington, The Facts of Life, page 433
stepfather meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
stepfather in Hindi
- husband of one's biological mother, other than one's biological father
- सौतेला बाप sautelā bāp
stepfather in Tamil
- மாற்றாந் தந்தை
stepfather in Marathi
- सावत्र वडील, सावत्र बाबा
stepfather in Urdu
- سوتیلا باپ, سوتیلے باپ, سوتیلے والد
More languagesFewer languages
- stepfather in Telugu
- సవతితండ్రి savatitaṇḍri
- stepfather in Malayalam
- സ്റ്റെപ്പ് ഫാദർ, സ്റ്റെപ്പ്ഫാദർ
- stepfather in Kannada
- ಮಲತಂದೆ
- stepfather in Punjabi
- ਮਤਰੇਏ ਪਿਤਾ, ਮਤਰੇਏ ਪਿਤਾ ਜੀ
- stepfather in Gujarati
- સાવકા પિતા, સાવકી પિતા
- stepfather in Odia
- ସାବତ ବାପା, ସାବତ ପିତା
- stepfather in Nepali
- सौतेनी पिता, सौतेनी बुबा
- stepfather in Tagalog
- amang-panguman
- stepfather in Arabic
- زَوْجُ ٱلْأُمّ zawju l-ʔumm, أَب رَبِيب ʔab rabīb
- stepfather in Indonesian
- ayah tiri, bapak tiri
- stepfather in Persian
- ناپدری nâpedari, پدندر pedandar
- stepfather in Vietnamese
- bố dượng, cha kế
- stepfather in Myanmar
- ပထွေး pa.htwe:
- Kashmiri
- وورٕ مول vōrụ mōl
Examples of stepfather in a sentence
- Her birth father left when she was a baby; she was raised by her mother and stepfather.
- He thanks his mother, stepfather, stepbrother and his grandfather Vasya Kotov for all their help and support.
- “My stepfather used to be a fibbie,” Allyn said.
Synonyms of stepfather
Forms of stepfather
| plural | stepfathers |
|---|---|
| alternative form | step-father |
Origin of stepfather
From Middle English stepfader, from Old English stēopfæder, from Proto-Germanic *steupafadēr (“stepfather”), equivalent to step- + father. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Stäiffoar (“stepfather”), Dutch stiefvader (“stepfather”), German Low German Steevvader (“stepfather”), German Stiefvater (“stepfather”), Swedish styvfar (“stepfather”), Icelandic stjúpfaðir (“stepfather”).
Words formed from stepfather
Questions about stepfather
- What does stepfather mean?
- Stepfather means the husband of one's biological mother after her initial marriage to or relationship with one's biological father.
- What is stepfather in Hindi?
- Stepfather in Hindi is सौतेला बाप (sautelā bāp). See Stepfather meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is stepfather?
- Stepfather is a noun.
- What is the plural of stepfather?
- The plural of stepfather is stepfathers.
Words near stepfather in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stepfather (page history and authors); stepfather (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stepfather (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stepfather (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stepfather (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stepfather (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stepfather (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stepfather (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stepfather (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stepfather (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-stepfather.wav.
Cite this entry: “stepfather.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stepfather. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.