adjective
definition
Governed by (or as if by) a matriarch.
definition
Governed by females, rather than by males.
Examples of matriarchal in a Sentence
The Social or matriarchal took precedence of the Local or patriarchal organization.
The show focuses on the inner workings and dynamics of larger, working class families with a strong matriarchal character at the helm of each family.
In her book on the subject published in 2003, Tina Hobin suggests that it evolved out of "fertility cults, religious rituals, magic and secular dances" designed to worship matriarchal deities.
The first was matriarchal, inheritance being reckoned through the mother.
Polygamy is general in upper Bagirmi, where some traces of a matriarchal stage of society linger, one small state being called Beled-el-Mra, "Women's Land," because its ruler is always a queen.
Reinach (reviewing P. Mazan's L'Orestie d'Eschyle, 1902) defends the theory of Bachofen, who finds in the legend of Orestes an indication of the decay of matriarchal ideas.