stepbrother
part of speech
noun (a stepbrother, stepbrothers)
meaning for a pupil
A boy or man who is the son of your stepmother or stepfather, but not the son of your own mother or father. tree →
sense in the lessons
It is a family word: when a parent marries or partners someone new who already has a son, that son becomes your stepbrother. Families come in many shapes, and stepfamilies are common. In stories it tells the reader about a blended family. Phrases: «my stepbrother», «older stepbrother».
examples
- My stepbrother and I share a bedroom at weekends. tree →
- When Mum married Tom, his son became my stepbrother. tree →
- Cinderella had stepsisters, not stepbrothers. tree →
- I have one sister and two stepbrothers. tree →
- My stepbrother taught me how to ride a skateboard. tree →
- We are not related by blood, but he is my stepbrother. tree →
note
One word. Trap: a stepbrother is not a «half-brother». A half-brother shares one parent with you; a stepbrother shares no parent with you — you are linked only because your parents married. Counting siblings in maths problems: add brothers, sisters, stepbrothers, stepsisters only if the problem says so.
In the corpora
- In Manchester, Lucas, 9, moves in with Mum, his stepdad and stepbrother Jaylon, 11.
- In Dublin, Amelia's stepbrother tells her, «You're not my real sister, ye sap.» It hurts.
- In Atlanta, Malachi's stepbrother Trey is the cool kid, and at school Trey ignores him.
- A stepbrother or stepsister shares no parent with you; they are the child of your parent's partner.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «stepbrother» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.