stepmother.
A woman who is a subsequent wife or partner of a person's parent, usually following the divorce or separation of their parents, or the death of one's biological mother.
Meaning & usage
A woman who is a subsequent wife or partner of a person's parent, usually following the divorce or separation of their parents, or the death of one's biological mother. A person or thing likened to a stereotypical stepmother, having cold, cruel, or ungenerous qualities.
A woman who is a subsequent wife or partner of a person's parent, usually following the divorce or separation of their parents, or the death of one's biological mother. An animal, typically a bird, who raises the offspring of another animal.
Synonym of co-mother (“the non-birth mother of a child in a lesbian couple”).
Clipping of stepmother's blessing.
A viola, especially Viola tricolor, heartsease.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English stepmoder, from Old English stēopmōdor, from Proto-Germanic *steupamōdēr (“stepmother”), corresponding to step- + mother. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Stäifmuur (“stepmother”), Dutch stiefmoeder (“stepmother”), German Low German Steevmoder (“stepmother”), German Stiefmutter (“stepmother”), Danish stedmor (“stepmother”), Swedish styvmor (“stepmother”), Icelandic stjúpmóðir (“stepmother”). Compare also West Frisian styfmem (“stepmother”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.