Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Being or serving as a guardian or protector: tutelary gods.
- adj. Of or relating to a guardian or guardianship.
- n. One that serves as a guardian or protector.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A tutelary divinity; an animal regarded as a tutelary divinity: as, Anubis, the tutelary of sepulchers.
- Same as tutelar.
Wiktionary
- adj. Having guardianship or protection.
- adj. Of or pertaining to guardians
- adj. Having the qualities of a tutor.
- n. A guardian or protector
WordNet 3.0
- adj. providing protective supervision; watching over or safeguarding
Etymologies
- From the Latin tutelarius "guardian" from tutela "protection" (Wiktionary)
- From Latin tūtēlārius, guardian, from tūtēla, tutelage; see tutelage. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The social motives may be called tutelary, as tending to restrain from mischievous intentions; but any motive may become tutelary on occasion.”
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics
“But we stayed not here to see the sights -- not even the droll little statue of the Mannikin (at the corner of a street, in a most improper attitude; and there is a Group quite as unseemly in one of the Markets, so I was told, although at that time we were fain to pass them by), which Mannikin the burgesses of Bruxelles regard as a kind of tutelary Divinity, and set much greater store by than do we by our London Stone, or Little Naked Boy in Panyer Alley.”
“He makes the various threats be they windmills or Inquisition torture seem real and inevitable while making the whimsical and, ultimately, delusional escapades seem possible, tutelary, and entertaining.”
The Huffington Post: James Scarborough: Man of La Mancha at Musical Theatre West
“Wheeler has become a tutelary figure and almost mythic in her memory.”
The Guardian: The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress by Beryl Bainbridge – review
“But when school administrators restrict speech, acting in their tutelary and managerial capacity, they get more leeway (indeed, I would argue a bit too much leeway).”
“A succession of directors have brought together an array of materials that reflected the mind-set of its tutelary spirit.”
“The Gelug tradition has the Six-Armed Mahakala as a tutelary deity.”
“What sort of a tutelary protector for the Gelug is it that one has to conceal when a Kagyu Lama arrives?”
“Anyway, the point is; the real tutelary deities of the Gelug are those that have been appointed to the task after the ordering and assigning process approved by Je Rinpoche.”
“These three are tutelary deities found within the Gelug tradition.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tutelary’.
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phrontistery-t
from phrontistery.info
tabacosis, tabanid, tabaret, tabati?re, tabby, tabefaction, tabellary, tabellion, tabernacle, tabernacular, tabescent, tabific and 930 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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New words
new words or spelling issues
voluble, Metagrobolize, salubrious, calumny, fugacity, withdrawal, bourse, hypertrophy, leitmotif, argot, improvident, damask and 249 more...
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jeffreytwhitney's list
abecedarian, assonance, prolix, avuncular, baleful, borborygmus, accismus, atavism, catachresis, coruscant, callipygian, carbuncle and 117 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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I, Claudius
Words taken from I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
evocation, aureus, sestertii, denarii, assegai, pilum, framea, sibyl, propitiatory, duenna, tyrannicide, maggoty and 136 more...
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Naresh_Gre
The path meanders through the vineyards
meander, labyrinth, Sinuous, gyrate, caron, awry, credo, banter, juxtaposition, argot, inexorable, foibles and 223 more...
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-ary
relating to; like; thing/person connected to
centenary, tutelary, seminary, legendary, military, aviary, solitary, topiary, dromedary
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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Oh them words, them words
My fancies, my cudgels.
liquescent, ferly, lamia, basilisk, trigon, fantast, stirp, tristesse, enfleurage, stemma, formicary, lacrimation and 346 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 889 more...
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Reading Random
Got unknown words randomly
delinquency, modicum, dissuade, incendiary, destitute, lachrymose, plight, ruse, empirical, pedantic, demography, giggle and 444 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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dbnews
echolalia, indehiscent, lacrimation, librate, syntagmatic, acquiesce, quiddity, accidie, antinomy, cathexis, ersatz, revenant and 93 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Words to Learn
recrudescent, feckless, incorrigible, turbid, exiguity, fatuous, fatuitous, patent, parry, repose, resurgent, scurvy and 264 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tutelary.
brtom "Nay, had the hussy's scouringbrush not been her tutelary angel it had gone with her as hard as with Hagar, the Egyptian!"
Joyce, Ulysses, 14 Jan 20, 2007