text: what is the definition of black sheep of the family mean? i am having a hard time finding all the information on what exactly the black sheep of the family means it is the name they use for the person that almost every family has...   it doesnt necc. mean a bad thing but it is that one person who always goes his or her own way...whichis often the opposite way that everyone else went..  example: father was a navy man, his father was a navy man, and six fathers before him... all your borthers join the navy but as soon as you get out of hs you apply to art school insisting you are creative and dont want to be trained to kill  while there is nothing wrong with that becasue you were following your own path you totally went against the generations of standards in the family... hence your the black sheep....