matronly

There was Lydia, a half-mad, matronly Portuguese divorcee with a teenage daughter.

The sweet little shrug that the grown-up, matronly Dakota Johnson gives to Dismukes, as he gawks at her younger self strutting around the stage, makes the entire sketch worthwhile.

Then he saw what the figure was wearing: a shapeless dress that stretched below her knees, a matronly oatmeal-colored shawl around her shoulders.

Transforming the elegant British, non-Jewish actress into the matronly prime minister required prosthetics for the cheeks, chin, nose and neck, plus contact lenses and a wig.

Her advice was easier to take, she determined, because it was offered by a “matronly woman” with a nonthreatening demeanor and a charming accent.