Stepchild

/ˈstɛpˌtʃaɪld/

Meaning & Definition

noun

A child of one's spouse by a previous marriage or relationship.

After their marriage, she embraced her role as a loving stepchild to her new parents.

A son or daughter of a stepparent.

He often felt like a stepchild when compared to his stepparents' biological children.

Figuratively, something that is considered secondary or less valued compared to something else.

The project was treated like a stepchild in the budget discussions, receiving hardly any funding.

Derived from 'step' + 'child', where 'step' refers to a relationship created by a marriage when one partner has children from a prior relationship.

stepsibling

A sibling who is the child of one's stepparent.

blended family

A family that includes children from previous relationships.

step-parenting

The act of raising a stepchild.

stepparent

A parent who is not a biological parent of a child due to marriage.

half-sibling

A sibling with whom one shares one biological parent.

Stepchild syndrome

He feels like a victim of stepchild syndrome, always overlooked in family matters.

The stepchild treatment

I feel like I get the stepchild treatment when it comes to family vacations.