kindred

[ kin-drid ]

noun

, (used with a plural verb)

1. a person's relatives collectively; kinfolk; kin.
2. a group of persons related to another; family, tribe, or clan.
3. relationship by birth or descent, or sometimes by marriage; kinship.
4. resemblance or connection; affinity:

   spiritual kindred.

adjective

1. associated by origin, nature, qualities, etc.:

   kindred languages.

2. having the same belief, attitude, or feeling:

   We are kindred spirits on the issue of gun control.

3. related by birth or descent; having kinship:

   kindred tribes.

4. belonging to kin or relatives:

   kindred blood.

kindred

/ ˈkɪndrɪd /

adjective

1. having similar or common qualities, origin, etc
2. related by blood or marriage
3. kindred spirit
   a person with whom one has something in common

noun

1. relationship by blood
2. similarity in character
3. a person's relatives collectively

Derived Forms

• ˈkindredness, noun

Other Words From

• kindred·less adjective
• kindred·ness noun
• kindred·ship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of kindred¹

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, variant (with epenthetic d ) of kinrede; kin, -red

Word History and Origins

Origin of kindred¹

C12 kinred, from kin + -red, from Old English rǣden rule, from rǣdan to rule

Example Sentences

Haitians held an elaborate funeral in absentia for the abolitionist John Brown, who they saw as a kindred spirit.

From Washington Post

Russell even dedicates the book to the memory of her own mother, who, she says, saw Roosevelt as a role model and had a kindred creative and intellectual energy.

From Washington Post

Ordinarily that would be true, but, in a stroke of good luck, my girlfriend is a kindred spirit.

From Washington Post

I hope we remember we don’t have to make a case for how alike we are to be kindred.

From Time

He encountered new vistas and met future collaborators, including Michael Atiyah, a kindred spirit whose mathematical homes in algebraic geometry and topology perfectly complemented Is’ expertise in differential geometry and analysis.

From Quanta Magazine

I learned some things from my younger self—the adventurous, kindred spirit.

From The Daily Beast

So, to take his mind off things, he logs into a phone sex chatroom and connects with a woman whom he thinks is a kindred spirit.

From The Daily Beast

Just me, my 95-year-old dad, and tens of thousands of our kindred spirits.

From The Daily Beast

When I realized that I had a committed group of readers—kindred spirits, really—with whom I could share things.

From The Daily Beast

Kramer and Billy are kindred spirits, but Kramer accuses Billy of being blinded by the seductions of capitalism.

From The Daily Beast

The exile too, far from home and kindred smokes on as he muses of happier hours gone never to return.

From Project Gutenberg

Of the Feralia of February 21, the culmination of the festival of the kindred dead (Parentalia), we have already spoken.

From Project Gutenberg

Lady Laura had been away from her own home and kindred some twelve years, and it seemed to her half a lifetime.

From Project Gutenberg

The third largest employer of workers engaged in manufacturing is the food and kindred products industry.

From Project Gutenberg

From the original social group another and closer community seems gradually to have developed, the group of kindred.

From Project Gutenberg