patriarch

American  

[pey-tree-ahrk] / ˈpeɪ triˌɑrk /

noun

• patriarchs
  plural

1. the male head of a family or tribal line.

2. a person regarded as the father or founder of an order, class, etc.

3. any of the very early Biblical personages regarded as the fathers of the human race, comprising those from Adam to Noah antediluvian patriarchs and those between the Deluge and the birth of Abraham.

4. any of the three great progenitors of the Israelites: Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob.

5. any of the sons of Jacob (the twelve patriarchs), from whom the tribes of Israel were descended.

6. (in the early Christian church) any of the bishops of any of the ancient sees of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem, or Rome having authority over other bishops.

7. Greek Orthodox Church. the head of any of the ancient sees of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, or Jerusalem, and sometimes including other sees of chief cities.

8. the head of certain other churches in the East, as the Coptic, Nestorian, and Armenian churches, that are not in full communication with the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople.

9. Roman Catholic Church.

   1. the pope as patriarch of the West.

   2. any of certain bishops of the Eastern rites, as a head of an Eastern rite or a bishop of one of the ancient sees.

   3. the head of a Uniate church.

10. Mormon Church. any of the high dignitaries who pronounce the blessing of the church; Evangelist.

11. one of the elders or leading older members of a community.

12. a venerable old man.

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patriarch British  

/ ˈpeɪtrɪˌɑːk /

noun

1. the male head of a tribe or family Compare matriarch

2. a very old or venerable man

3. Old Testament any of a number of persons regarded as the fathers of the human race, divided into the antediluvian patriarchs, from Adam to Noah, and the postdiluvian, from Noah to Abraham

4. Old Testament any of the three ancestors of the Hebrew people: Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob

5. Old Testament any of Jacob's twelve sons, regarded as the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel

6. Early Church the bishop of one of several principal sees, esp those of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria

7. Eastern Orthodox Church the bishops of the four ancient principal sees of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, and also of Russia, Romania, and Serbia, the bishop of Constantinople (the ecumenical Patriarch ) being highest in dignity among these

8. RC Church

   1. a title given to the pope

   2. a title given to a number of bishops, esp of the Uniat Churches, indicating their rank as immediately below that of the pope

9. Mormon Church another word for Evangelist

10. Eastern Christianity the head of the Coptic, Armenian, Syrian Jacobite, or Nestorian Churches, and of certain other non-Orthodox Churches in the East

11. the oldest or most venerable member of a group, community, etc

    the patriarch of steam engines

12. a person regarded as the founder of a community, tradition, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antipatriarch
  noun
• patriarchdom
  noun
• patriarchship
  noun
• patriarchal
  adjective
• patriarchic
  adjective
• patriarchical
  adjective
• patriarchally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• patriarchs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of patriarch

1175–1225; Middle English patriark(e) (< Old French ) < Late Latin patriarcha < Late Greek patriárchēs high-ranking bishop, Greek: family head equivalent to patri(á) family, derivative of patḗr father + -archēs -arch

Explanation

A patriarch is a male leader. Your father might be the patriarch of your family, but your kid brother could be the patriarch of his club house. You can trace patriarch back to its ancient Greek root pater meaning "father." What do you think a female leader is called? You got it — matriarch. Although the noun patriarch specifically refers to a male head of the family, it can more generally refer to any older, respected male. In terms of the Old Testament, patriarch refers to the men considered to be the fathers of the human race, including Jacob and Isaac.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

patriarch patriarchs

At the same time, a trailer-dwelling man named Clevon becomes the patriarch of multiple interconnected, large families.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

Hit HBO series "Succession" was inspired by the Murdoch family, with the ruthless and cruel patriarch Logan Roy providing a hugely unflattering portrait of the real-life billionaire.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

When the Buss family ceded majority control of the Lakers in 2025, the franchise was worth nearly 150 times what their patriarch had paid for it in 1979.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Hal Williams, a veteran actor known for his roles as a friendly neighborhood police officer on “Sanford and Son” and a hard-working patriarch on “227,” has died.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026

A patriarch with a long white beard, black skull cap and toothless gums presided over the vats with a big forked wooden stick.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

Both of the patriarchs of Emily Moreno’s life have failed to protect her.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

And by 09:00, patriarchs and cardinals will congregate in Saint Sebastian Chapel, in the basilica, wearing white damask miters.

From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2025

Pennington, for example, characterized slavery as “an institution of the dark age” while critiquing the “monarchs, patriarchs, and prophets of the South.”

From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2024

Patriarch Kirill and most other Orthodox patriarchs have refused to accept his decision authorizing the second Ukrainian church.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 1, 2023

In the summer of 1813 the dialogue ceased being a still-life picture of posed patriarchs and became an argument between competing versions of the revolutionary legacy.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

• elder
• founder
• grandfather
• ruler