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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of patriarch
The former series, created by and starring Danny McBride, has the HBO all star up for consideration for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series alongside Emmy winner John Goodman, who plays the patriarch on the series about a world-famous televangelist family.
—
Marcus Jones, IndieWire, 15 May 2025
Conrad Harrigan, patriarch of Paramount+’s MobLand, has built a criminal empire that — if Fisk doesn’t get to it first — could very likely outlive him.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 8 May 2025
Alda's beloved patriarch pops in to offer words of wisdom for Anne's friends, Kate (Fey) and Danny (Colman Domingo), both of whom are facing marital obstacles.
—Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 6 May 2025
Nicolas Cage plays the patriarch of a family that moves to a remote farm where a glowing meteor seems to crash in the front yard.
—Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for patriarch
Marcus Jones, IndieWire, 15 May 2025
Conrad Harrigan, patriarch of Paramount+’s MobLand, has built a criminal empire that — if Fisk doesn’t get to it first — could very likely outlive him.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 8 May 2025
Alda's beloved patriarch pops in to offer words of wisdom for Anne's friends, Kate (Fey) and Danny (Colman Domingo), both of whom are facing marital obstacles.
—Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 6 May 2025
Nicolas Cage plays the patriarch of a family that moves to a remote farm where a glowing meteor seems to crash in the front yard.
—Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for patriarch
Recent Examples of Synonyms for patriarch
Noun
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After his grandfather died a few years later, Pitsaev and his mom moved back to Chechnya.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
24 May 2025
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Even more breathtaking than Williams' entrance, though, was her brief scene beside the bed of Jen's dying grandfather, which would ultimately kick off the first of countless tearjerker moments peppered throughout the series.—
Jen Juneau,
People.com,
24 May 2025
Noun
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The two are joined by Bella's dad, Home Secretary Suri Sharma, and an apparent Syrian arms dealer.—
Matt Cabral,
EW.com,
26 May 2025
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Copeland's dad, Micky, had been killed in a car wreck that March, just as the world shut down because of the covid pandemic.—
Sheila Yount,
Arkansas Online,
25 May 2025
Noun
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The suspect’s father told us his son had a childhood obsession with pyrotechnics In an interview with my colleague Jenny Jarvie, the suspect’s estranged father, Richard Bartkus, said the boy, then 9, set his family’s Yucca Valley home on fire.—
Hailey Branson-Potts,
Los Angeles Times,
21 May 2025
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In the early 1980s, before Will Harlan was born, his father, H. William (Bill) Harlan, was hiking in the mountains above Napa Valley and stumbled upon a hidden valley.—
Forbes.com,
Forbes.com,
21 May 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 4 Jun. 2025.
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