stepchild
noun
step·child ˈstep-ˌchī(-ə)ld 
1
: a child of one's wife or husband by a former partner
2
: one that fails to receive proper care or attention
is no longer a stepchild in the family of nations
F. R. Smith
F. R. Smith
Example Sentences
The school has long been the forgotten stepchild of the state university system.
Recent Examples on the Web Our digital enterprise — comprising young journalists from the U.K., Sweden, France, the East Coast of the U.S. and me as the lone Mexican American or pocho — was treated like the newspaper’s undesirable stepchild. Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2022 Nope is like the cosmically perfect stepchild of the two. K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 20 July 2022 An Orlando man been found guilty of abuse after a waitress noticed concerning signs and helped save his stepchild. Caitlin O'kane, CBS News, 9 June 2022 Russia has long treated Ukraine as a subservient stepchild, people said, and been dismissive of Ukraine’s millennium-old roots as a Slavic power of its own. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 16 July 2022 Honestly, mental health has been the stepchild of physical health forever. Fox News Staff, Fox News, 4 June 2022 The stepparent might help the stepchild with their homework or some other task upon request, but won’t nag the child to focus if they get distracted. Stephanie H. Murray, The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 2022 The relationship between a stepmom and stepchild can be a beautiful and meaningful one. Maribeth Jones, Country Living, 2 May 2022 In fact, existing research suggests that the relationship between stepparent and stepchild varies enormously from family to family—and, at least as far as stepkids’ well-being is concerned, that isn’t necessarily a problem. Stephanie H. Murray, The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 2022 See More
Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2022 Nope is like the cosmically perfect stepchild of the two. K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 20 July 2022 An Orlando man been found guilty of abuse after a waitress noticed concerning signs and helped save his stepchild. Caitlin O'kane, CBS News, 9 June 2022 Russia has long treated Ukraine as a subservient stepchild, people said, and been dismissive of Ukraine’s millennium-old roots as a Slavic power of its own. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 16 July 2022 Honestly, mental health has been the stepchild of physical health forever. Fox News Staff, Fox News, 4 June 2022 The stepparent might help the stepchild with their homework or some other task upon request, but won’t nag the child to focus if they get distracted. Stephanie H. Murray, The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 2022 The relationship between a stepmom and stepchild can be a beautiful and meaningful one. Maribeth Jones, Country Living, 2 May 2022 In fact, existing research suggests that the relationship between stepparent and stepchild varies enormously from family to family—and, at least as far as stepkids’ well-being is concerned, that isn’t necessarily a problem. Stephanie H. Murray, The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2