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materfamilias

[mey-ter-fuh-mil-ee-uh s]
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noun
  1. the mother of a family.
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Origin of materfamilias

1750–60; < Latin; cf. paterfamilias
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

ancestorantecedentauthorforerunnerfoundermatriarchoriginatorparentpatriarchprecursorprogenitorrelativesireascendantbegettermaterfamiliaspaterfamiliasprimogenitorprocreator

Examples from the Web for materfamilias

Historical Examples

  • Materfamilias: "Where have you been all the morning, girls?"

    Mr. Punch's History of Modern England Vol. III of IV

    Charles L. Graves

  • Materfamilias (just arrived at Shrimpville—the children had been down a month before).

  • In England materfamilias is always complaining of servant difficulties.

  • Its chief importance is the prominence given to the materfamilias.

  • He was paterfamilias, she materfamilias; and the rooms assigned to her peculiar use were, as with us, the best in the house.

British Dictionary definitions for materfamilias

materfamilias

noun plural matresfamilias (ˌmeɪtreɪzfəˈmɪlɪˌæs)
  1. the mother of a family or the female head of a family
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Word Origin

C18: from Latin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012