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
Their patriarch, Peter Lowenstein, died five years ago.
—
Faith Karimi, CNN, 23 Feb. 2025
Meanwhile, the Duterte patriarch and President Marcos have traded drug use allegations.
—Chad De Guzman, TIME, 11 Mar. 2025
Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp Plummer played the von Trapp’s rigid patriarch.
—Keith Langston, People.com, 2 Mar. 2025
And this isn’t to say Hackman didn’t turn in one of the best performances of his career as neglectful patriarch Royal.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 1 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for patriarch
Faith Karimi, CNN, 23 Feb. 2025
Meanwhile, the Duterte patriarch and President Marcos have traded drug use allegations.
—Chad De Guzman, TIME, 11 Mar. 2025
Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp Plummer played the von Trapp’s rigid patriarch.
—Keith Langston, People.com, 2 Mar. 2025
And this isn’t to say Hackman didn’t turn in one of the best performances of his career as neglectful patriarch Royal.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 1 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for patriarch
Recent Examples of Synonyms for patriarch
Noun
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This recipe is familiar yet revolutionary at the same time, just like your grandfather's stories.—
Mary Alice Russell,
Southern Living,
14 Mar. 2025
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Pulte, whose grandfather founded the nation’s third-largest homebuilder, PulteGroup, said that privatizing the two companies is not the Trump administration’s top priority this time around.—
Samantha Delouya,
CNN,
13 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Following the unexpected turn of events, Guzman documented her dad's journey and shared it on TikTok (@whoevenisval) on February 26.—
Mark Davis,
Newsweek,
14 Mar. 2025
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But first, there’s an engrossing look at the life of a multi-faceted woman who grew up in the squeaky-clean 1950s, with a dad who worked in PR for Disney.—
Pat Saperstein,
Variety,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
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His father, Dave, served as a Virginia assistant in the 1980s.—
Ryan Morik,
Fox News,
22 Mar. 2025
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Iceland’s public broadcaster reported that the relationship was kept secret but that the father was present for the birth of his child and initially allowed contact, but nearly all access was cut off before his son turned 1.—
Caitlin Danaher,
CNN,
22 Mar. 2025
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
Cite this Entry
“Patriarch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/patriarch. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.
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