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• pater
  pater

  noun

  father.
• Pater
  Pater

  noun

  Walter Horatio, 1839–94, English critic, essayist, and novelist.

pater

¹ American  

[pay-ter, pat-er] / ˈpeɪ tər, ˈpæt ər /

noun

• paters
  plural

1. British Informal. father.

2. (often initial capital letter) the paternoster; Lord's Prayer.

3. a recitation of it.

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Pater ² American  

[pay-ter] / ˈpeɪ tər /

noun

1. Walter Horatio, 1839–94, English critic, essayist, and novelist.

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Pater ¹ British  

/ ˈpeɪtə /

noun

1. Walter ( Horatio ). 1839–94, English essayist and critic, noted for his prose style and his advocation of the "love of art for its own sake". His works include the philosophical romance Marius the Epicurean (1885), Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), and Imaginary Portraits (1887)

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pater ² British  

/ ˈpeɪtə /

noun

1. facetious a public school slang word for father

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• paters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pater

1300–50; Middle English < Latin: father

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pater Pater paters

For instance, we find closely matching terms in Latin with "pater," Sanskrit's "pitar" and in Greek with "patér" – all older languages that developed separately from the Germanic line.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2022

Yet critics maintain that the Packers have betrayed not only the country but also the pater familias of football: legendary Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi.

From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2017

Cosby set Constand up on a meeting with Lou Weiss, a pater familias of the old WMA who retired in 2007.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2017

Putin himself, a father figure to his proteges, would then become a pater patriae, or, to use a Singaporean formula, a president mentor.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 27, 2017

Annabeth realized with a sinking feeling what the pater was talking about: the thing in the dark from Percy’s dream, the guardian of the shrine.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

Muratov read the works of those who had traveled on the Italian Grand Tour before him: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Walter Pater, Vernon Lee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Seits and Pater won their final five matches and finished 12-1 as a pair this season.

From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2024

"I was surprised by how quickly clouds disappeared on Neptune," de Pater added.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2023

No. What was happening instead is that Monet’s painting was becoming increasingly poetic, closer and closer to abstraction and to what the critic Walter Pater called “the condition of music.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2023

“That Lord Fredrick brought the children home to live as his wards was something no one expected,” Pater Lumley said.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

This single parent language – known as Proto Indo-European – spawned all these later languages and their shared word for paters.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2022

“Good man. But best not mention it to”—Hugo nodded through the garage wall—“the maters and the paters, or we'll spend the rest of the afternoon playing Ludo or the Game of Life under strict supervision.”

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

Then he remained quite still for about five paters and aves, and smiled toward the ceiling.

From Without Dogma by Henryk Sienkiewicz

The first detachment, consisting of the governor, with mother, now delight the flock with their presence; and the paters, pipe, flock and sermons again occupy his attention.

From A Heart-Song of To-day by Annie Gregg Savigny

You have no idea how many aves and paters, and psalms and litanies I have to say before I can quiet my mind down again!

From The Missing Bride by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth