Dictionary

bonus father en · NOUN

From bonus and father.

A man who serves in a fatherly role to a child who has a different biological father, with or without formally marrying the child’s other parent and becoming a stepfather or going through the formal process of adoption.
- Melin talks about his own biological father becoming a fine grandfather, and his “bonus father” functioning as a role model for his own parenting but also establishes that the “bonus father” can never take the place of the “real father”… [2016 January 13, Helena Walström Henriksson, “I: Pappahandbooks: Guidebooks for Dads in Twenty-First Century Sweden”, in Andrea Doucet, editor, Pops in Pop Culture:Fatherhood, Masculinity, and the New Man, Palgrave, →ISBN, page 44:
- Several approaches work well. A father and bonus father may walk on either side of the bride. 2026 June 3, Jann Blackstone, “Part 4: Managing Special Occasions and Child-Centered Milestones”, in Co-Parenting for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, →ISBN, page 292:
- Establish clear and open communication with both your child’s biological father and any bonus father figures in your life. 2025 April 4, Shanice Nicole Robinson, “Chapter 4: Prison to Parenthood: Raising Kids Behind Bars”, in The Gangsters Scholar: Love Behind Bars, page 124:

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
bonus fathers	Number=Plur		lexicographic