kinship

[ kin-ship ]

noun

1. the state or fact of being of kin; family relationship.

   Synonyms: connection

2. relationship by nature, qualities, etc.; affinity.

   Synonyms: bearing, connection

kinship

/ ˈkɪnʃɪp /

noun

1. blood relationship
2. the state of having common characteristics or a common origin

kinship

1. A relation between two or more persons that is based on common ancestry (descent) or marriage (affinity).

Word History and Origins

Origin of kinship¹

First recorded in 1825–35; kin + -ship

Synonym Study

See relationship.

Example Sentences

It’s not really surprising that gymnasts, regardless of geographic location and national origin, would feel a kinship with one another.

From FiveThirtyEight

So many of our programs and services – from kinship care to homeless youth outreach to educational enrichment – are not bound by brick-and-mortar buildings.

From Voice of San Diego

Those conversations are often marked by binary thinking and easy categorization, although how race and culture shape identity, kinship, and solidarity are much more complicated.

From Time

Several of the pictures suggest landscapes, a kinship the artist has taken to heart.

From Washington Post

Joy is also the feeling that can arise from sensing kinship with others, experiencing harmony between what we are doing and our values, or seeing the significance in an action, a place, a conversation or even an inanimate object.

From Popular-Science

And yet, the NRA professes no kinship for those being crushed beneath the jackboots.

From The Daily Beast

It was an odd sensation for a Russian Jew to feel kinship with Malcolm X.

From The Daily Beast

But in Hillary Clinton they feel something beyond the usual kinship with a political figure who shares their ideas.

From The Daily Beast

There have been gestures of peace and kinship from both sides.

From The Daily Beast

As far as Sal goes, did you feel a kinship with Rebel Without A Cause after playing James Dean?

From The Daily Beast

Where it is used in the sense of pertaining to kinship—“They are my blody brethren, quod pieres, for God boughte us alle.”

From Project Gutenberg

She felt the genuine thing in him somewhere; and, in spite of all, she felt a sort of kinship for him.

From Project Gutenberg

He claimed kinship with Turberville, a minor poet of the sixteenth century, and he loved to talk of poetry.

From Project Gutenberg

Dalgard did not reply at once, making mind touch not only to ask but to impress his kinship on the sea people.

From Project Gutenberg

It makes them feel a sort of kinship with the country of hill-shadows, and strange romance.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• affinity