immediate family

[Soseki]

Hello,

immediate family

Meaning: your closest relatives by birth, meaningonly your parents, brothers, sisters and children
https://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Collocations/I/immediate_family_3109.htm


Spouses are not included in the Meaning.
Why isn't it included?

Thank you

 

[Matthew Wai]

Because they can divorce. They are not married by birth.

 

[Soseki]

Because they can divorce. They are not married by birth.

https://definitions.uslegal.com/i/immediate-family/

Spouse is included in this definition. (Immediate Family Law and Legal Definition)

 

[Matthew Wai]

'her immediate family (= her parents, children, brothers, and sisters)'—quoted from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/immediate?q=immediate

A legal definition can be different from a linguistic definition.

 

[Roman55]

Immediate family refers to the closest relatives. Comparing a definition from an English language learning website to a legal definition is not necessarily useful for a learner. I prefer the legal definition in this case.

In the first link you provided, where they restrict the relationship to one of birth, they give the following example. 'After the accident, only members of her immediate family were allowed to see her.' I don't think that that anyone would stop the husband from seeing her.

 

[Soseki]

'her immediate family (= her parents, children, brothers, and sisters)'—quoted from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/immediate?q=immediate

A legal definition can be different from a linguistic definition.

If parents are a component of an immdiate family, then the spouses comprising of the 'parents' in question is part of the immediate family.

 

[Roman55]

If parents are a component of an immdiate family, then the spouses comprising of the 'parents' in question is part of the immediate family.

Apart from the mistakes in that sentence, I agree with you entirely!

 

[Soseki]

Apart from the mistakes in that sentence, I agree with you entirely!

What are the mistakes, please?

 

[Matthew Wai]

'Spouses' does not agree with 'is'.
'Of' should be omitted.

If parents are a component of an immdiate family, then the spouses comprising of the 'parents' in question is part of the immediate family.

The writer might think that the spouses are part of the immediate family of their daughter but not of their spouses.

 

[Soseki]

The writer might think that the spouses are part of the immediate family of their daughter but not of their spouses.

I can't quite understand what you mean by the above sentence.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The writer might think in the following way:
The spouses, the father and the mother, are the immediate family of their daughter.
It doesn't follow that the father is the immediate family of the mother.

 

[Soseki]

It doesn't follow that the father is the immediate family of the mother.

The immediate family of the father and that of the mother overlap in a certain way.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The father's daughter is the immediate family of the father.
The father's father is also the immediate family of the father.
Is the father's father considered the immediate family of the father's daughter?

 

[Roman55]

The father's daughter is the immediate family of the father.
The father's father is also the immediate family of the father.
Is the father's father considered the immediate family of the father's daughter?

Those are two different families.

Once you've established who the members of a particular immediate family are, then all of the members of that immediate family are the immediate family of all the other members.

 

[Matthew Wai]

What if the parents are divorced? Are they still the immediate family of each other because of their daughter?

 

[Soseki]

What if the parents are divorced? Are they still the immediate family of each other because of their daughter?

The father is not a member of the mother’s immediate family of which their daughter is a member.

The mother is not a member of the father’s immediate family of which their daughter is a member.

(Immediate Family Law and Legal Definition,
https://definitions.uslegal.com/i/immediate-family/)