matriarchate

American  

[may-tree-ahr-kit, -kayt] / ˈmeɪ triˌɑr kɪt, -keɪt /

noun

1. a matriarchal system or community.

2. a social order formerly believed to have preceded patriarchal tribal society in the early period of human communal life, embodying rule by the mothers, or by all adult women.

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matriarchate British  

/ ˈmeɪtrɪˌɑːkɪt, -keɪt /

noun

1. rare a family or people under female domination or government

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Etymology

Origin of matriarchate

First recorded in 1880–85; matriarch + -ate ³

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

matriarchate

I said the peoples with whom we are now being brought as a nation into vital relationship may be still in the matriarchate.

From The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV by Ida Husted Harper

We find both the matriarchate and patriarchate family; and we may observe the greatest difference in the conduct of the parents in their care of offspring.

From The Truth About Woman by C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine) Hartley

Often women established their own claims and all property was held by them; which under favourable circumstances developed into what may literally be called a matriarchate.

From The Position of Woman in Primitive Society A Study of the Matriarchy by C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine) Hartley

Much of the discredit that has fallen on the matriarchate has arisen, I am certain, through the impossibility of accepting Bachofen’s mythical account of its origin.

From The Position of Woman in Primitive Society A Study of the Matriarchy by C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine) Hartley

What traces can be found in history or legend of the victory of Theseus over the Amazons, and the rise of a new civic order on the ruins of a matriarchate?

From Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies by Charlotte Endymion Porter

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