matronly

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of matronly Pinkham’s matronly smile, printed on labels and advertisements, became as well known as Mona Lisa’s. Shayla Love, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2025 Every few days, a matronly Spanish woman appeared at the fountain to give me a plastic bag with bananas and bread, and sometimes little packets of butter and jam. Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2024 Transforming the elegant British, non-Jewish actress into the matronly prime minister required prosthetics for the cheeks, chin, nose and neck, plus contact lenses and a wig. Valli Herman, Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2024 Mary’s childhood has all of the workhouse tragedy of a Dickens novel, plus insufficient scenes of Susan Lynch as a stern, matronly figure from her youth. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019 See All Example Sentences for matronly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for matronly
Adjective
  • McQuarrie’s feats lack the comic timing, composition, and emotionalism that cartoonist-director Brad Bird brought to the thrilling Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Ethan/Tom spider-walking the Burj Khalifa skyscraper and outrunning a dust storm, Paula Patton’s womanly catfight with Léa Seydoux).
    Armond White, National Review, 23 May 2025
  • My favorite was the dystopian one featured in the tour’s promotional, majestically capturing a Black, womanly otherworldliness concomitant with her performance.
    Julian Randall, Essence, 9 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • Workman, Chief Scientist and co-founder of the venture, helped coin the name Electric Goddess, honoring both the feminine energy of nurturing and the technical masculine drive of making.
    Malana VanTyler, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2025
  • Just like Sandy does, Bieber offset the biker jacket with more feminine pieces, like a pair of heeled mules and some itty-bitty micro shorts that further emphasized the leg.
    Christian Allaire, Vogue, 3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The powers that be explained to me that in the audiobook, there would be no easy way to identify the bees’ chapters, which were designated with italics in the printed version, unless the narrator’s voice changed from female to male.
    Elizabeth Bass Parman, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2025
  • The West Virginia native became the face of female boxing in the mid-1990s, covering Sports Illustrated and helping to bring attention and legitimacy to the sport.
    Esther Zuckerman, Time, 6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Bees are matriarchal, with a queen bee in charge of the hive.
    Elizabeth Bass Parman, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2025
  • Nor does the film offer up much in the way of thematic substance beyond love (between women) is grand, men are mostly bad, and matriarchal societies are better than patriarchies.
    Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Matronly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/matronly. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.

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