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

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

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

Among the Lycians, whose affinity to the Greeks was so pronounced, a matriarchate prevailed down to the time of Herodotus.

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

But Bachofen found the explanation of mother-descent in the supremacy of women, and believed a matriarchate to have been established by them in a moral revolt against such hetaïrism.

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

It was never patriarchate alone, nor yet solely matriarchate.

From Child Versus Parent Some Chapters on the Irrepressible Conflict in the Home by Wise, Stephen

Fu-hi introduced matrimony; and in so doing he placed man as the husband at the head of the family and abolished the original matriarchate.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" by Various