Definition of "next of kin" [next of kin]

• The person or persons most closely related by blood to another person. (noun)
• Law The closest relative of a deceased person. (noun)
• Law The relative or relatives entitled to share in the personal property of one who dies intestate. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But if any one is disobedient, either ventures to go to any of the temples and sacrifice unpurified, or will not continue in exile during the appointed time, the next of kin to the deceased shall proceed against him for murder; and if he be convicted, every part of his punishment shall be doubled."
• "Jim Sheeler, a reporter at The Rocky Mountain News, even spent a year following a “casualty assistance calls officer” whose duty it was to notify the next of kin when a Marine was killed, and his subsequent series won a Pulitzer Prize and was published in book form with photographs."
• "In September, 1733, as the books in Doctors 'Commons show, letters of administration on his goods and chattels were granted to Mary Brooks, widow, a creditrix, after summoning in official form the next of kin to appear."