metronymic
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of metronymic
First recorded in 1865–70, metronymic is from the Greek word mētrōnymikós “named after one's mother”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Her forehand was clean and metronymic, her backhand powerful and poised.
From The New Yorker ● May 29, 2019
BPM ends inside the club, where the same metronymic beat that once attended the members of ACT UP Paris, many now dead, in their joy, now supports them in their grief.
From Slate ● Mar. 14, 2018
The Iroquois Indians, among whom Morgan lived, were a typical maternal or metronymic people.
From Sociology and Modern Social Problems by Charles A. (Charles Abram) Ellwood
Among many tribes of the North American Indians this metronymic or maternal system was peculiarly well-developed.
From Sociology and Modern Social Problems by Charles A. (Charles Abram) Ellwood
Descent henceforth was reckoned in the paternal line, and society had become patronymic instead of metronymic.
From Society Its Origin and Development by Henry Kalloch Rowe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
