as in dowager
a dignified usually elderly woman of some rank or authority
even though she was 87, the matriarch of the family knew everything that was going on
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Recent Examples of matriarch
Daisy Edgar-Jones, born to run through fields in bonnets and floaty, empire-waist gowns, leads the charge alongside Esmé Creed-Miles (the daughter of Samantha Morton, no less), Caitríona Balfe, Frank Dillane, George MacKay, and Fiona Shaw, as the requisite flighty matriarch.
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Radhika Seth, Vogue, 1 Jan. 2026
As the Kennedy family, including her older sister Rose and younger brother Jack, mourns the environmental journalist’s passing, the family’s matriarch Caroline is drawing from the tragedies of her own childhood—as well as the strength of her mom Jackie—to make sure her grandkids remember their mom.
—Lara Walsh, InStyle, 31 Dec. 2025
The Chhoum family’s beef noodle soup recipe was created by family matriarch Thatsany Som, who passed away in 2024.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Dec. 2025
Lane’s matriarch, a Georgetown professor facing down a former student’s rebellion, starkly contends with that notion.
—David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 29 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for matriarch
Recent Examples of Synonyms for matriarch
Noun
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The show’s underpinned by the differences in character and country of Lady Cora and her formidable mother-in-law, the dowager Countess Violet Crawley, played by the equally formidable and much missed Dame Maggie Smith.—
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The empress dowager’s legacy Empress Dowager Ling was largely unsuccessful in her bid for power.—
Noun
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Her version of the middle-aged matron was a gentle innocent who faced the world with an unself-conscious enthusiasm.—
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It is named after Miss Ruby Stokes, who was a matron of the hospital in the 1920s.—
Cite this Entry
“Matriarch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/matriarch. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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