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Webster 1913 Edition


Patriarchal

Paˊtri-ar′chal

,
Adj.
[Cf. F.
patriarcal
.]
1.
Of or pertaining to a patriarch or to patriarchs; possessed by, or subject to, patriarchs;
as,
patriarchal
authority or jurisdiction; a
patriarchal
see; a
patriarchal
church.
2.
Characteristic of a patriarch; venerable.
About whose
patriarchal
knee
Late the little children clung.
Tennyson.
3.
(Ethnol.)
Having an organization of society and government in which the head of the family exercises authority over all its generations.
Patriarchal cross
(Her.)
,
a cross, the shaft of which is intersected by two transverse beams, the upper one being the smaller. See Illust. (2) of
Cross
.
Patriarchal dispensation
,
the divine dispensation under which the patriarchs lived before the law given by Moses.

Webster 1828 Edition


Patriarchal

PATRIARCH'AL


Definition 2024


patriarchal

patriarchal

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

patriarchal (comparative more patriarchal, superlative most patriarchal)

  1. Characteristic of a patriarch; venerable.
    • Tennyson
      About whose patriarchal knee / Late the little children clung.
  2. Relating to a system run by males, rather than females.

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Derived terms

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