matriarch Hear it!

matriarch Definition

ma·tri·arch (trē ärk′)

noun

  1. a mother who rules her family or tribe; specif., a woman who is head of a matriarchy
  2. a highly respected elderly woman

Etymology: matri- + -arch

matriarch Related Forms

ma′·tri·archal (-ärkəl) adjective

matriarch Synonyms

matriarch

n.

female ruler, dowager, matron, materfamilias, head of the family, ancestress; see also ancestor, queen.

matriarch Usage Examples

Converse of object

play: While the effort is commendable, and the actress playing the overbearing matriarch is especially good, most of the acting is unconvincing.

Converse of subject

  • lead: In these films cameraman Martyn Colbeck and I followed the lives of one family of elephants led by the distinguished matriarch Echo.
  • dominate: The picture painted by these three witnesses was of a home dominated by the matriarch, Mrs Joan Cave.

Adjective modifier

  • old: Which indeed is just what my beloved old matriarch was doing.
  • elderly: King's Head Theater Spring 2003 An elderly Fijian matriarch awakens in the small hours in her home in a New Zealand suburb.
  • feisty: Although we were higher than them, the feisty matriarch raised her trunk and flapped her ears at us in irritation.
  • convincing: Lynn Farleigh's convincing matriarch, however, towers over the all too meek and still daughters.
  • Jewish: Shona Morris is superb as the indomitable Jewish matriarch whose strength of conviction carries her through two decades.
  • dead: For this study they also took digital photographs, automatically dated and timed, to record visits of elephants to the dead matriarch.

Modifies a noun

elaine: Employer merged with forms of various matriarch elaine who solve up to.

Noun used with modifier

family: It is believed that the southwest is the powerful Yin sector, which benefits the family matriarch.

Preposition: of

family: Ena Baxter, the matriarch of the family, has starred in television commercials.