matriarchate

American  

[mey-tree-ahr-kit, -keyt] / 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  

/ -keɪt, ˈmeɪtrɪˌɑːkɪt /

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

Example Sentences

Among the Syntengs, the people who have most closely preserved the customs of the matriarchate, the husband does not even go to live with his wife, he only visits her in her mother’s home.

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

A patriarchal age could not, therefore, have invented the matriarchate, and the myths which describe the latter may be regarded as trustworthy witnesses of its historical existence.

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

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 Hartley, C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine)

Woman's position during the matriarchate was largely the result of the need in primitive society of woman's constructive energy, and her power arose from an unfettered use of her special functions.

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

And in a matriarchate we should undoubtedly hear of the Eternal Masculine.

From The Glands Regulating Personality by Berman, Louis, M.D.