Thesaurus results for PATRIARCH

patriarch

noun

Definition of patriarch

as in grandfather

a man who is the head of a family Investors worried that the aging patriarch was soon to be replaced atop the family business by his less reliable oldest son.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of patriarch For nine seasons, veteran stage and screen actor John Forsythe played the ruthless oil tycoon and family patriarch Blake Carrington. — Maggie Fremont, Entertainment Weekly, 23 Aug. 2026 The next day, Luwi had a similar daydream, but this time the disapproving patriarch was Gajdusek. — Rachel Aviv, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026 In their place are flawed geniuses and idiosyncratic personalities thrust together in the dregs of intelligence services, operating like a dysfunctional family under its disreputable patriarch. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Aug. 2026 The Andy family, whose patriarch grew up in Miami before moving to New Jersey where the family still runs the popular La Mer Resort, gave the land to the Miami Blue Chapter of the National Butterfly Association. — Jenny Staletovich, Miami Herald, 17 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for patriarch

Recent Examples of Synonyms for patriarch

Noun

A week earlier, with Eldridge on bereavement leave, the family gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to bury his grandfather, Edward Kenney, a Korean War veteran and Purple Heart recipient who died in March.

— Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026
After her grandfather Elia Kazan adapted John Steinbeck’s novel into a celebrated film, Zoe Kazan is taking a crack at a newer retelling of the family saga.

— Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 2 Sep. 2026