as in grandfather
a man who is the head of a family
Investors worried that the aging patriarch was soon to be replaced atop the family business by his less reliable oldest son.
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Recent Examples of patriarch
With an unforgettable eleventh-hour appearance by Jay O. Sanders, as the dying patriarch.
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Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024
Phil Robertson's family is sharing an update on their patriarch's health.
—Ingrid Vasquez, People.com, 7 Dec. 2024
Investigators believed the family patriarch, Alex Murdaugh, was the prime suspect.
—Lars Daniel, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024
Even John Dutton—the powerful patriarch of the Dutton family who (spoiler alert) becomes governor of Montana and is later killed by his adversaries—doesn’t have much use, or time, for a closet full of suits.
—Elise Taylor, Vogue, 29 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for patriarch 
Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024
Phil Robertson's family is sharing an update on their patriarch's health.
—Ingrid Vasquez, People.com, 7 Dec. 2024
Investigators believed the family patriarch, Alex Murdaugh, was the prime suspect.
—Lars Daniel, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024
Even John Dutton—the powerful patriarch of the Dutton family who (spoiler alert) becomes governor of Montana and is later killed by his adversaries—doesn’t have much use, or time, for a closet full of suits.
—Elise Taylor, Vogue, 29 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for patriarch
Recent Examples of Synonyms for patriarch
Noun
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Coincidentally, his maternal grandfather had been a groundskeeper on John D. Rockefeller’s nearby estate, Kykuit.Marty Steinberg, CNBC, 26 Dec. 2024
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This marked the first year that the Waymon Webster Scholarship Program was a part of the event; the program, named for Scott’s grandfather, has awarded over $1 million in scholarships to more than 100 graduating seniors at HBCUs since 2019.Rachel DeSantis, People.com, 24 Dec. 2024
Noun
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And just trying to figure out if my dad could have walked out of there, like, putting myself in my dad’s shoes.Veronica Fulton, NBC News, 26 Dec. 2024
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My dad has Lewy body [dementia] and Parkinson’s, Brett’s dad has Parkinson’s.Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times, 25 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Officials said the charges came after investigators presented additional evidence to a grand jury following the arrest of 33-year-old Andrew Kammerer, the child's father.Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 22 Dec. 2024
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Stack has attributed this to his father’s short temper.Jemima McEvoy, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024
Noun
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There’s also a concern about acting as if your son were a source of shame, a secret to be hidden from the paterfamilias.Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 9 Aug. 2022
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In a sense this is a classic family drama: the struggle over the paterfamilias’s legacy, complete with allegations of late-in-life changes to the will.Benjamin Soskis, Town & Country, 27 Oct. 2022
Thesaurus Entries Near patriarch
Cite this Entry
“Patriarch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/patriarch. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024.
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