familiar vs familial

Definitions

noun

1. a person attached to the household of a high official (as a pope or bishop) who renders service in return for support
2. a spirit (usually in animal form) that acts as an assistant to a witch or wizard
3. a friend who is frequently in the company of another

adjective

1. having mutual interests or affections; of established friendship
2. (usually followed by `with') well informed about or knowing thoroughly
3. well known or easily recognized
4. within normal everyday experience; common and ordinary; not strange

Examples

I lashed the clothes that I had been brought to wear at the hospital into the bag, a couple of ancient pairs of socks that felt suddenly found and familiar.

Thell Torrence's name may not be familiar to the average fight fan but he, along with a couple of others, is the premier teacher of the manly art in the USA.

The affinities between music and poetry have been familiar since antiquity, though they are largely ignored in the current intellectual climate.

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Definitions

adjective

1. relating to or having the characteristics of a family
2. occurring among members of a family usually by heredity

Examples

(He rewrote Ghosts -- at age 85, mind you -- with loads of obscenities to harshen the inter-familial accusations even more, and drew out the final death scene, as McNulty beautifully describes it, to "near blinding Oedipal apotheosis.")

Environmental factors can determine the phenotypic presentation of familial Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction Familial occurrence of chronic inflammatory bowel disease has been reported in several studies during the past decades.

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