View synonyms for patriarchal

patriarchal

[ pey-tree-ahr-kuhl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

of or relating to a patriarch, the male head of a family, tribe, community, church, order, etc.:
my father's conservative, patriarchal ways.
characteristic of an entity, family, church, etc., controlled by men:
a patriarchal church in which women are not allowed to hold leadership roles.

First recorded in 1425–75; from Late Latin patriarchālis, equivalent to patriarch(a) patriarch ( def ) + Latin -ālis -al ¹( def )

And yes, that authoritarian, patriarchal guru-power structure, invariably, always leads to abuses.

In a patriarchal society—our society—a naked woman is a dangerous thing.

It seems that, in doing away with patriarchal authority, we have also, perhaps unwittingly, killed off all the grown-ups.

Never mind that the patriarchal belief system woven throughout the cartoon content is itself shockingly outdated.

Because marriage is a patriarchal, sexist institution that should be discarded rather than reformed.

The patriarchal decree of the government was a good deal of a joke on the plains, anyway—except when you were caught defying it!

It is true that by patriarchal customs and laws Isaac belonged to Abraham as much as if he were a slave or an animal.

Men in patriarchal times may have committed what we regard as crimes, while their ordinary lives were more virtuous than ours.

During the patriarchal age the father of the family was priest.

Indeed, the patriarchal and Jewish religions were mainly typical.

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