Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A woman who rules a family, clan, or tribe.
- n. A woman who dominates a group or an activity.
- n. A highly respected woman who is a mother.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The wife of a patriarch.
- n. A woman who holds (to some extent or in some respect) in a family or tribe a position analogous to that of a patriarch. See matriarchy.
Wiktionary
- n. A female leader of a family, a tribe or an ethnic or religious group.
- n. A female founder of a political or religious movement, an organization or an enterprise.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The mother and ruler of a family or of her descendants; a ruler by maternal right.
- n. A woman who dominates or is the most important member of a group or organization; in businesses, often the founder or owner of the largest interest.
- n. A venerated old woman.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a feisty older woman with a big bosom (as drawn in cartoons)
- n. a female head of a family or tribe
Etymologies
- From Latin māter ("mother") + + -arch. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The word matriarch could have been coined to describe my mother: now 89, she is the last living child of her parents, mother of five adult children, grandmother of 12 and has recently acquired three great-granddaughters.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“But the matriarch is the glue that binds the entire family together and the inheritor of the late Jindals political constituency.”
“A surprised Southern matriarch is confronted by her family at an intervention ....”
“For the uninitiated, Joan Gussow is known as the matriarch of the local food movement.”
The Huffington Post: Leslie Hatfield: The Destruction and Rebirth of Joan Gussow's Famous Garden
“Anya Whitson, the matriarch, is Russian-born, cold and detached from her daughters, never showing love or affection.”
All Things Girl » All Things Girl » Blog Archive » Book Review: Winter Garden, by Kristin Hannah
“Their matriarch is inside for similar offences but the remainder of the gang is active all over the city.”
“Zelda is known as the matriarch of New York's nightlife scene.”
“These are tears of sorrow that it has come to this, that the country’s matriarch is gone, and no one looms bright over the horizon to serve as the country’s guardian angel.”
Global Voices in English » Philippines: People mourn death of Corazon Aquino
“Click here to learn more about this action, called the Rachel Sabbath Initiative, named after the matriarch from the Hebrew Bible who died in childbirth.”
The Huffington Post: Rev. Debra Haffner: Celebrate Mothers Locally, Commit To Mothers Globally
“The rest of you, go with your so-called matriarch into the wilderness.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘matriarch’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Positive womanhoods
Glossary of positive terms for often marginalised, or negatively termed, groups of women, e.g. childless, unmarried, post-menopausal
Childless:, childfree, child-carer, nurturer, alternative parent, aunt, mentar (not -or), matronne, Childless and par..., familyfree, anti-nuclear, familyextended and 17 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Morthalion's Words
supercilious, kvetch, kvass, splurge, erroneous, pugnacious, macabre, gauche, conglomerate, abyss, paraphernalia, kleptomania and 285 more...
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summerwing's Words
proctosigmoidoscopy, horrendous, cichlid, implode, nostalgic, firmament, elucidate, quintet, rhombus, mack, pithy, rambunctious and 304 more...
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Out of Book Words
commiserate, equanimity, dulcet, cursory, diffident, profligate, egregious, precocious, dissemble, aggregate, efficacy, ingenuous and 100 more...
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kirstenio's Words
lascivious, transcendant, phantasmagoria, salacious, beatitude, solitude, pseudo, pretentious, inanity, sublimation, clobber, obscurity and 186 more...
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mater-, matri-
mother
maternity, matriarch, matriarchy, matriarchal, maternal, matricide
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words found to be generally pleasing
alabaster, mahogany, camphor, coalesce, spire, portmanteau, gadabout, palaver, dolor, dour, dun, luminesce and 610 more...
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wreckingball's Words
reprehensible, problematize, crepuscular, deleterious, pestilent, strumpet, draggletail, interrobang, meretricious, systematize, schadenfreude, capricious and 443 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Eazy E
motley, callous, languid, copious, dubious, contemptible, disparage, sporadic, gratuitous, disillusioned, conflagration, concordance and 99 more...
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Ny New Words
From Barron Wordlist the New Words
lap, lank, languor, languish, lancet, lance, lampoon, larceny, larder, largess, lascivious, latitude and 120 more...
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Dictionary
dilettante, frostjack, perfunctory, impresario, paparazzi, pastiche, lollipop, Cymru, nub, bivouac, knapsack, hoodlum and 103 more...
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Sat Vocabulary List
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 2155 more...
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