How to Use matrilineal in a Sentence

matrilineal

adjective
  • The show will always be a measure of a hero’s journey, matrilineal resolution by virtue of its largest pieces.
    — Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Apr. 2022
  • Killer whales move around in matrilineal units, a mother with up to four generations of descendants.
    — Tomas Weber, Rolling Stone, 18 May 2024
  • News headlines seized on the finding that the Ancestral Puebloans shared a matrilineal line.
    — Mary Hudetz, ProPublica, 20 July 2023
  • Essian kids grow up in extended matrilineal families, with no husbands or wives.
    — Stephanie Burt, New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2026
  • As Meilin soon learns, turning into a red panda is an ancient, matrilineal Chinese curse.
    — Jane Hu, The New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2022
  • In one, researchers looked at a matrilineal society in China to explore gender norms' impact on health.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 19 Nov. 2020
  • Our goal was to show that Kamala's real power is being from this matrilineal line of four generations of women.
    — Christian Holub, EW.com, 15 July 2022
  • New research suggests that giraffes have a matrilineal society.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 7 Aug. 2021
  • As in Prayers for the Stolen, Huezo is interested in matrilineal bonds and female strength and courage.
    — Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2023
  • Found in cities and jungles throughout Asia, macaques form intricate matrilineal societies and display a keen sense of fairness.
    — Ava Kofman, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
  • Her writing is an unabashed celebration of place, a home for motherhood, matrilineal struggle, kink, and the pastoral.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Apr. 2026
  • In Hopi society, which is matrilineal, the corn traditionally belongs to the women, as do the fields.
    — Ian James, The Arizona Republic, 12 Sep. 2021
  • Taíno societies were matrilineal in their descent, meaning that women could be chiefs and that power was transferred from the chief’s mother’s relatives.
    — Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
  • 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
  • This notion is undermined by the Greek lists of Amazon generations, all traced by matrilineal lines.
    — National Geographic, 18 June 2020
  • Vasquez Yui is a ceramicist working in a matrilineal tradition reaching back thousands of years.
    — Andrea K. Scott, The New Yorker, 24 Dec. 2022
  • Could The Lost Daughter be the latest in this unfortunate matrilineal trend?
    — Vulture, 3 Feb. 2022
  • Asante culture is matrilineal, with property transmitted through the female line.
    — Susan Delson, WSJ, 12 Apr. 2018
  • Sperm whales live in matrilineal social groups, the core of which is formed by related females, often comprising a grandmother, her daughter, and their offspring.
    — Discover Magazine, 5 Aug. 2022
  • But Miriam wants Joan to follow their matrilineal tradition and enter the medical field.
    — Leah Tyler, ajc, 21 Mar. 2022
  • Cross-cultural work finds that, in matrilineal societies where women are in authority, women are more competitive than men are.
    — Ellevate, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2021
  • The matrilineal passage of power—made known by crying tears of blood—has been smothered and controlled by men, but thanks to their new abilities, the twins escape their mother and her malicious husband.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Naming a daughter after a mother isn’t a modern phenomenon; in some cultures, the tradition of matrilineal naming goes back centuries.
    — Maggie Mertens, The Atlantic, 29 Apr. 2022
  • Their matrilineal wisdom, which should have been a birthright for every woman born into that family, instead surfaces intermittently across the centuries.
    — Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2021
  • Not your mother’s business A study compared patriarchal and matrilineal tribes in Bangladesh with respect to entrepreneurship.
    — Kevin Lewis, BostonGlobe.com, 4 May 2018
  • Since the Mandis are matrilineal, the idea that a man should marry a widow and her daughter is designed to safeguard the property-owning female lineages of both sides of the family.
    — Abigail Haworth, Marie Claire, 28 May 2015
  • Female elephants and killer whales can live into their 80s in matrilineal societies, comprising up to four generations of mothers and offspring.
    — Bridget Alex, Discover Magazine, 6 Feb. 2020
  • But in all the nation's imperial history, there has never been a single emperor or empress from the matrilineal line, said Japan Today.
    — Harriet Marsden, The Week Uk, theweek, 1 May 2024
  • But that was hardly revelatory to people like Pasqual, who trace their roots through Chaco Canyon and sustain cultures that center matrilineal ties.
    — Mary Hudetz, ProPublica, 20 July 2023
  • The genetic material, which is inherited from mothers, could help researchers learn more about trade routes, human migration and matrilineal lineages.
    — Mary Hudetz, ProPublica, 20 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'matrilineal.' 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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