3 ADJ If someone you do not know well behaves in a familiar way towards you, they treat you very informally in a way that you might find offensive. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ The driver of that taxi-cab seemed to me familiar to the point of impertinence. ● fa|mili|ar|ity N‑UNCOUNT □ …the easy familiarity with which her host greeted the head waiter. ● fa|mili|ar|ly ADV □ 'Gerald, isn't it?' I began familiarly.
fa|mili|ar|ity /fəm I liæ r I ti/
1 PHRASE Familiarity is used especially in the expression familiarity breeds contempt to say that if you know a person or situation very well, you can easily lose respect for that person or become careless in that situation.
2 → see also familiar
fa|mil|iar|ize /fəm I liəra I z/ (familiarizes , familiarizing , familiarized ) in BRIT, also use familiarise VERB If you familiarize yourself with something, or if someone familiarizes you with it, you learn about it and start to understand it. □ [V pron-refl + with ] I was expected to familiarise myself with the keyboard. □ [V n + with ] The goal of the experiment was to familiarize the people with the new laws.
fa|mili|ar|ly /fəm I ljə r li/ PHRASE If you say that something or someone is familiarly known as a particular thing or familiarly called a particular thing, you are giving the name that people use informally to refer to it. □ …Ann Hamilton's father, familiarly known as 'Dink'.
fami|ly ◆◆◆ /fæ m I li/ (families )
1 N‑COUNT [with sing or pl verb] A family is a group of people who are related to each other, especially parents and their children. □ [+ of ] There's room in there for a family of five. □ His family are completely behind him, whatever he decides. □ To him the family is the core of society. □ Does he have any family?
2 N‑COUNT [with sing or pl verb] When people talk about a family , they sometimes mean children. □ They decided to start a family. □ …couples with large families.
3 N‑COUNT [with sing or pl verb] When people talk about their family , they sometimes mean their ancestors. □ Her family came to Los Angeles at the turn of the century. □ …the history of mental illness in the family.
4 ADJ [ADJ n] You can use family to describe things that belong to a particular family. □ He returned to the family home. □ I was working in the family business.
5 ADJ [ADJ n] You can use family to describe things that are designed to be used or enjoyed by both parents and children. □ It had been designed as a family house. □ A wedding is a family event.
6 N‑COUNT A family of animals or plants is a group of related species. □ …foods in the cabbage family, such as Brussels sprouts. COLLOCATIONS family NOUN 1
adjective + family : extended, immediate; nuclear, one-parent, single-parent; dysfunctional, happy, ordinary
fa mi|ly do c|tor (family doctors ) N‑COUNT [oft poss N ] A family doctor is a doctor who does not specialize in any particular area of medicine, but who has a medical practice in which he or she treats all types of illness. [BRIT ]
fa mi|ly man (family men )
1 N‑COUNT A family man is a man who is very fond of his partner and children and likes to spend a lot of time with them. □ I'm very much a family man and need to be close to those I love.
2 N‑COUNT A family man is a man who has a partner and children. □ I am a family man with a mortgage.
fa mi|ly name (family names ) N‑COUNT Your family name is your surname.
fa mi|ly pla n|ning N‑UNCOUNT [oft N n] Family planning is the practice of using contraception to control the number of children you have. □ …a family planning clinic.
fa mi|ly tree (family trees ) N‑COUNT A family tree is a chart that shows all the people in a family over many generations and their relationship to one another.
fam|ine /fæ m I n/ (famines ) N‑VAR Famine is a situation in which large numbers of people have little or no food, and many of them die. □ Thousands of refugees are trapped by war, drought and famine. □ The civil war is obstructing distribution of famine relief by aid agencies.
fam|ished /fæ m I ʃt/ ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If you are famished , you are very hungry. [INFORMAL ] □ Isn't dinner ready? I'm famished.
fa|mous ◆◆◇ /fe I məs/ ADJ Someone or something that is famous is very well known. □ [+ for ] New Orleans is famous for its cuisine. □ …England's most famous landscape artist, John Constable.
fa|mous|ly /fe I məsli/
1 ADV [usu ADV adj, oft ADV with v] You use famously to refer to a fact that is well known, usually because it is remarkable or extreme. □ Authors are famously ignorant about the realities of publishing.
2 ADV [ADV after v] If you get on or get along famously with someone, you are very friendly with each other and enjoy meeting and being together. [INFORMAL , OLD-FASHIONED ] □ I got on famously with Leary from the first time we met.
fan ◆◆◇ /fæ n/ (fans , fanning , fanned )
1 N‑COUNT [usu n N ] If you are a fan of someone or something, especially a famous person or a sport, you like them very much and are very interested in them. □ As a boy he was a Manchester United fan. □ [+ of ] I am a great fan of rave music.