How to Use paternalism in a Sentence

paternalism

noun
  • Maybe there’s a compelling line to be drawn between this fable of fathers and sons and the pratfalls of paternalism.
    Naveen Kumar, Vulture, 21 July 2022
  • If there is a whiff of paternalism to the plans, the lawmakers behind the current swell of auto I.R.A. proposals don’t seem to mind.
    New York Times, 22 Dec. 2020
  • World over, this is a crisis that has re-established the writ of the state, and state paternalism is exactly what the doctor ordered.
    Suvojit Chattopadhyay, Quartz India, 26 Mar. 2020
  • The challenge to corporate paternalism is not going to come from the billionaires and pop stars.
    Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, 13 May 2021
  • But this was just another sign of Australian paternalism, said Jim Bero, one of the pub’s seven board members.
    John Eligon, New York Times, 26 June 2017
  • That case makes clear the underlying paternalism of schools' approach to speech.
    Nicole Hemmer, CNN, 25 June 2021
  • So this is not about white paternalism, this is about African-American agency.
    Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 19 June 2018
  • There is a lot of paternalism inherent in many of the conversations about the changing climate.
    Daniel Starkey, Ars Technica, 4 Sep. 2022
  • Luckily, this particular type of paternalism seems as much a relic of the ’80s as the floppy disk.
    John Berlau and Gibson Kirsch, WSJ, 18 Mar. 2020
  • Here is Dwight’s defining paternalism turned into a source of injury.
    Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 29 Oct. 2020
  • This isn’t strictly out of paternalism (although there are elements of that).
    Rob Reid, Ars Technica, 18 July 2018
  • The outrage theater will hurt him, but the underlying questions — What are the proper limits of state paternalism toward the poor?
    Nr Editors, National Review, 5 Dec. 2019
  • The case against paternalism in genetics is a cause célèbre among many scientists and science writers.
    David Dobbs, WIRED, 14 Jan. 2013
  • The Western mission to save Africa by stopping the birth of African children or by killing them in the womb must be considered a form of paternalism or imperialism.
    Elliot Kaufman, National Review, 14 July 2017
  • Second, the arguments for paternalism strike me as very weak in the context of other issues in the broader society.
    Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 12 Mar. 2011
  • Among those who lease to women, higher rents, surveillance and paternalism are often the urban norm.
    Damien Cave, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2023
  • Within his own country, Lukashenka has imposed a kind of harsh paternalism.
    Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2021
  • Sweet is an unlikely advocate for a kind of soft paternalism.
    Sandeep Jauhar, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2018
  • But the Chinese government does exhibit a great deal of paternalism.
    David Marchese David Marchese, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2023
  • Their romance is a study of love and difference, of how pity and paternalism can stifle true communication.
    Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2018
  • And there's so much paternalism, which has pretty much been the approach to all countries, particularly Muslim countries, that have been targeted by the US under the guise of the war on terror.
    Brandon Tensley, CNN, 9 Sep. 2021
  • The minigame awkwardly merges latent paternalism with the crudely gamelike instructions to rotate the joystick to avoid the pouring water.
    Nick Capozzoli, Ars Technica, 22 Nov. 2019
  • Their paternalism is likely to cause untold lasting harm.
    WSJ, 18 Apr. 2021
  • There’s also paternalism that emerges that these people are not civilized.
    Terrell Jermaine Starr, The Root, 17 Oct. 2017
  • But even when women producers of colour get their foot in the door, there’s often a slew of microaggressions, paternalism, ego, and other barriers waiting for them on the other side.
    Ecleen Luzmila Caraballo, refinery29.com, 12 Dec. 2021
  • Today, the paternalism struggles to disguise itself, as in the recent variety show.
    The Economist, 22 Feb. 2018
  • But even when women producers of color get their foot in the door, there’s often a slew of microaggressions, paternalism, ego, and other barriers waiting for them on the other side.
    Ecleen Luzmila Caraballo, refinery29.com, 6 Dec. 2021
  • But such paternalism is a reality for hundreds of thousands of Americans using methadone to treat opioid addiction and live a healthy life.
    Paul J. Joudrey and Adam J. Gordon, STAT, 25 Dec. 2021
  • Women’s Life in Spanish Soccer: More than a dozen women described sexism ranging from paternalism to verbal abuse.
    Zach Buchanan, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Sometimes, in other words, paternalism can work in a certain sense, whether those of us with libertarian inclinations like it or not.
    Robert Verbruggen, National Review, 24 Oct. 2019

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

Last Updated: