Paternity dictionary definition | paternity defined

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paternity

[pə tʉr′nə tē]

Use paternity in a sentence

noun

the state of being a father; fatherhood
male parentage; paternal origin
origin or authorship in general

Origin of paternity

Old French paternité ; from Late Latin paternitas ; from Classical Latin paternus, paternal ; from pater, father

paternity

noun

pl. pa·ter·ni·ties

The state of being a father; fatherhood.
Descent on a father's side; paternal descent.
Authorship; origin.

adjective

Relating to or involving the identification of a person's biological father: a paternity suit.

Origin of paternity

Middle English paternite, from Old French, from Late Latin paternitās, from Latin paternus, paternal; see paternal.

paternity

Noun

(countable and uncountable, plural paternities)

fatherhood, being a father
parental descent from a father
(law) legal acknowledgement of a man's fatherhood of a child
(figuratively) authorship

Related terms

Origin

From Latin paternitās (“paternity”), from paternus (“of or pertaining to a father, paternal”) + -itās, from pater (“father”).

paternity - Legal Definition

n

Fatherhood, the relationship of father to a child.

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Sentence examples

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Sentence Examples

This increased his anxiety to temporize, which he did with signal success for more than two years, making ' The grave doubt as to the paternity of Matthew involved a doubt whether the great earl of Tyrone and his equally famous nephew Owen Roe had in fact any O'Neill blood in their veins.
Towards the end of his period of favour he caused great offence by legitimizing a supposed bastard son of very doubtful paternity and worthless personal character, and by arranging a rich marriage for him.
A large majority of the names of the parents mentioned seem to be feminine in form or meaning, and suggest that the Nethinim could not trace back to any definite paternity; and this is confirmed by the fact that the lists are followed by the enumeration of those who could not "show their father's house" (Ezra ii.
The Aruntas among them are said to have no idea of paternity, but believe that local spirits of tree, rock or stream enter women as they pass by their haunts.
She kept a son born to her shortly before the palace revolution of 1762, whose paternity could not be attributed to Peter, at a distance, though she provided for him.

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