Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
family values. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
family values, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
family values in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
family values you have here. The definition of the word
family values will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
family values, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Noun
family values pl (plural only)
- Political and social beliefs that hold the traditional nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society.
- (right-wing usage, euphemistic) Right-wing values like patriarchy and opposition to gay marriage, family planning and legal abortion, and to feminism and women working outside the home.
1992 September 6, William Safire, “On Language: Family Values”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:But on “family values night,” as Marilyn Quayle described the session dominated by Republican women, the values took on an accusatory edge: […] the Vice President's wife made clear to cheering conservatives what she felt was at the center of family values: “Commitment, marriage and fidelity are not just arbitrary arrangements.” […] he difference is that the use of family values focuses more sharply on abortion, gay rights and the pre- and extramarital activities that go under the name of playing around or hanky-panky.
, →ISSN, page C15:Although Hollywood executives are fond of pointing out this latest trend, the phrase “family values” hardly carries the same meaning here as that expressed by Vice President Dan Quayle, his wife, Marilyn, Patrick J. Buchanan and others before and during the Republican convention. There, it was generally viewed as a phrase that implicity criticized alternative life styles, and was even seen as rebuking working mothers.]
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations