Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Characteristic of or pertaining to a matriarchy. Alternative form of matriarchal.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word matriarchial.

Examples

  • The Oppressed-African-Caribbean-Canadians have some advantages, like a matriarchial culture that boasts an eighty percent illegitimacy rate, a near complete dependency on welfare (just like the Bonobos picking fruit from the trees), and they are cute to look at.

    Archive 2007-07-01 2007

  • Arguably one of the most "martial" of all nations in history was a matriarchial society.

    Sally Field Censored by Fox 2007

  • Arguably one of the most "martial" of all nations in history was a matriarchial society.

    Sally Field Censored by Fox 2007

  • Um, no, actually it came from a seven year study of ancient religions and matriarchial cultures.

    Apocalypto Rogers 2006

  • Depending upon whether it's a matriarchial or a patriarchial society, the mother or the mother-in-law would take charge of the new born infant.

    Oral History Interview with Guion Griffis Johnson, May 17, 1974. Interview G-0029-2. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) 1974

  • One is the condition of affairs in a remote matriarchial period, when descent was reckoned always through the maternal line, and the fatherhood in each generation was obscure or unknown or commonly left out of account; and the other is the fact -- so strange and difficult for us to realize -- that among some very primitive peoples, like the

    Pagan and Christian creeds: their origin and meaning Edward Carpenter 1886

  • A number of earlier societies were matrilineal and matriarchial--for good reason.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2012

  • One is the condition of affairs in a remote matriarchial period, when descent was reckoned always through the maternal line, and the fatherhood in each generation was obscure or unknown or commonly left out of account; and the other is the fact -- so strange and difficult for us to realize -- that among some very primitive peoples, like the Australian aborigines, the necessity for a woman to have intercourse with a male, in order to bring about conception and child-birth, was actually not recognized.

    Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning 1920

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.