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.

“If a foreign minister makes a speech today, there’s a group of young analysts that can look at it and say this paragraph is paternalist, that one is aggressive, this isn’t diplomacy.”

From New York Times • Apr. 14, 2022

I enjoy paternalist roles because I enjoyed the dad I had and who is still with me in my heart.

From Salon • Nov. 13, 2019

The paternalist doesn’t just look down on people who have less than him.

From Slate • Aug. 28, 2019

“We look to their living quarters, their comfortable living, their dresses, their social problem,” said the paternalist Run Run in an interview he gave in English in 1964.

From Time • Jan. 7, 2014

Many whites who supported Jim Crow justified it on paternalist grounds, actually believing they were doing blacks a favor or believing the time was not yet “right” for equality.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander