How to Use matriarchal in a Sentence

matriarchal

adjective
  • An elephant needs a matriarchal herd, which then allows the males to go off as loners and meet up with the herd from time to time.
    Jack McCordick, The New Republic, 16 Feb. 2023
  • For the first two years of his life, Kik mostly stayed in the lower Yukon River basin, almost certainly in a matriarchal herd.
    Richard Grant, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2023
  • Their society is matriarchal, with the pods led by grandmothers and mothers.
    oregonlive, 8 May 2021
  • For 50 years, a secretive matriarchal religious order has stolen the hearts of thousands of women.
    Addie Morfoot, Variety, 22 Aug. 2023
  • In the wild, European bison have a matriarchal social structure, similar to that of elephants.
    Victoria Turk, Wired, 19 July 2022
  • Told from the perspectives of two young women — Indir and Saya — the novel takes place in and around the city of Alcanzeh, a mostly matriarchal society informed by Mesoamerican societies.
    Seth Combs Writer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Feb. 2022
  • The society has been and remains matriarchal and matrilocal, with husbands moving in with their wives’ families.
    Byandrew Curry, science.org, 29 Mar. 2023
  • Her roles on the silver screen, often depicting matriarchal characters is what earned her an Academy Award and Golden Globe.
    Elise Brisco, USA TODAY, 1 May 2021
  • Pods usually consist of a matriarchal female and her offspring.
    Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 17 Jan. 2024
  • Both Farr and Tyler are at their best delivering the inner thoughts, frustrations, and sly humor of the main character, Mercy Garratt, a woman trapped in her matriarchal role by both family ties and custom.
    The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Aug. 2022
  • Her decisions feel more rooted in matriarchal sacrifice than anything else, which minimizes her choice to protect not just her family, but also herself.
    Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 2 May 2024
  • In the film, Barbie Land is this matriarchal feminist utopia where every race and ethnicity is represented ... except Latinas.
    Fidel Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 27 July 2023
  • Research into feral colonies shows that cats tend to form matriarchal social bonds; females will adhere more closely to one another (typically in a community of mothers, aunts and sisters).
    Colleen Grablick, Washington Post, 12 Mar. 2024
  • Perhaps the proximity of Lesbos, where Sappho wrote of the sexiness of female separatism, made matriarchal societies seem perfectly plausible.
    Virginia Heffernan, WIRED, 14 Feb. 2024
  • The early riot-grrrl scene was characterized by a matriarchal spirit of creative collaboration.
    Hanif Abdurraqib, The New Yorker, 5 Jan. 2024
  • And there are communities that are matriarchal societies, there are patriarchal societies.
    Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Feb. 2023
  • The traditional Swahili society is strongly matriarchal.
    Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Mar. 2023
  • Similarly, better understanding of non-human communication can reveal the ways that specific matriarchal herds of elephants pass on information.
    Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 17 June 2023
  • Many Indigenous societies were historically matriarchal, Haozous noted; art museums and institutions have traditionally not been.
    Briana Miller | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 20 Nov. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'matriarchal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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