How to Use matriarchal in a Sentence

matriarchal

adjective
  • Bees are matriarchal, with a queen bee in charge of the hive.
    — Elizabeth Bass Parman, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2025
  • An elephant needs a matriarchal herd, which then allows the males to go off as loners and meet up with the herd from time to time.
    — Jack McCordick, The New Republic, 16 Feb. 2023
  • Herds are matriarchal, and all the females chip in to raise the calves communally.
    — Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 28 Jan. 2025
  • There is a strong matriarchal figure whose presence dictates the course of action.
    — Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 9 May 2026
  • Except for the presence of one adult man, the village felt almost like a matriarchal society.
    — Aatish Taseer, Travel + Leisure, 13 Oct. 2025
  • My cane is an elephant, and elephants are matriarchal societies.
    — Ronda Racha Penrice, HollywoodReporter, 20 July 2025
  • Their society is matriarchal, with the pods led by grandmothers and mothers.
    — oregonlive, 8 May 2021
  • Pods usually consist of a matriarchal female and her offspring.
    — Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 17 Jan. 2024
  • African elephants are highly social animals, living in matriarchal herds led by a female elder.
    — David Faris, Newsweek, 10 July 2024
  • This matriarchal practice defines Tunisia’s food culture.
    — Boutheina Ben Salem, Vogue, 8 May 2026
  • For 50 years, a secretive matriarchal religious order has stolen the hearts of thousands of women.
    — Addie Morfoot, Variety, 22 Aug. 2023
  • The society has been and remains matriarchal and matrilocal, with husbands moving in with their wives’ families.
    — Byandrew Curry, science.org, 29 Mar. 2023
  • For the first two years of his life, Kik mostly stayed in the lower Yukon River basin, almost certainly in a matriarchal herd.
    — Richard Grant, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2023
  • Navajo society was matrilineal and matriarchal, and women had already long been involved in work outside the home.
    — Lua Vollaard, ARTnews.com, 24 June 2026
  • Sinclaire has an agent for a memoir, and Gonzalez is thinking about writing a book about matriarchal communities.
    — Kayla Levy, Curbed, 25 June 2026
  • In the wild, European bison have a matriarchal social structure, similar to that of elephants.
    — Victoria Turk, Wired, 19 July 2022
  • My mom was really strong, and so is her mom, and her mom, and her mom — a very matriarchal family, in general, on both sides, all my grandmothers, and great-grandmothers.
    — Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 26 Sep. 2024
  • Bonobos, for example, have a matriarchal structure.
    — Rj MacKenzie, Popular Science, 28 Aug. 2025
  • It’s also meant to be a meditation on the matriarchal nature of Caribbean culture.
    — Douglas Markowitz, Miami Herald, 19 Dec. 2025
  • Visitors learn more about what makes a geisha and the sacred artistry that holds generations of Japanese heritage and matriarchal lineage.
    — Malik Peay, Them., 15 Dec. 2025
  • According to the Humane Society, they are best suited to small, matriarchal groups of between 1 and 6 sows as well as their young.
    — Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 June 2025
  • Andor is a matriarchal society, and so his power and influence, though vast, are always second to that of his Queen, to whom his loyalties and services are sworn.
    — Denise Petski, Deadline, 18 Dec. 2024
  • Her decisions feel more rooted in matriarchal sacrifice than anything else, which minimizes her choice to protect not just her family, but also herself.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 2 May 2024
  • Whales live in matriarchal societies, with their own dialects and multigenerational family bonds.
    — T. Nelson Thompson, Baltimore Sun, 14 June 2024
  • 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
  • According to the study, the Romans found these matriarchal societies rather remarkable but may have written a skewed view of them to make the society seem less civilized.
    — Monica Cull, Discover Magazine, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Barbary macaque troops are also matriarchal, with dominance determined by relatedness to the top-ranking female.
    — Jonathan Granoff, Newsweek, 29 Jan. 2025
  • Now, matriarchal families are leading the majority of businesses on the island.
    — Victoria Leandra, refinery29.com, 9 July 2024
  • In the supporting role of the matriarchal cookhouse keeper Maria was Denyce Graves, the legendary mezzo-soprano opera star.
    — Charlotte Observer, 13 May 2026
  • Beyond primates, elephant, orca, and hyena societies all have matriarchal structures.
    — Rj MacKenzie, Popular Science, 28 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'matriarchal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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