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.

Wilson’s Sarah is heroic, particularly given her self-doubting nature and quasi-maternal motives, but Thompson makes Zoë, for all her failings and regrets, an instant icon.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 29, 2025

Freema Agyeman plays the Nurse, the affable go-between who enables the lovers’ forbidden affair, with a fine blend of sassy assertiveness and quasi-maternal tenderness.

From New York Times • May 24, 2024

Walters shows how Bella, initially a kind of rival to the quasi-maternal Gloria, in effect becomes a caring mum for her.

From The Guardian • Jun. 25, 2020

She bent low over him with quasi-maternal devotion.

From New York Times • Jun. 25, 2017

Camilla Van Arsdale, yearning over the boyish outburst, smiled and sighed and mused and was vaguely afraid, with quasi-maternal fears.

From Success A Novel by Adams, Samuel Hopkins