Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

patriarchy

[pey-tree-ahr-kee] / ˈpeɪ triˌɑr ki /
NOUN
society led by men
Synonyms
STRONGEST
patriarchism patriarchship
STRONG
patriarchate


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.

See Examples For:

The black-and-white drama tells the story of a woman passing herself off as a man in rural 17th-century Germany to escape the constraints of patriarchy.

From Barron's Feb. 21, 2026

The controversy gained traction because of Smith’s record of championing the marginalized, citing theorists like Frantz Fanon while targeting empires and the omnipresent patriarchy.

From Los Angeles Times Oct. 28, 2025

She worried the themes discussed — patriarchy, capitalism and poverty — could be taken out of context and used against her.

From Salon Oct. 16, 2025

The sanitary pads demonstrate his empathy and readiness to help should a nearby woman forget she's on her period; the literature that he knows all about the structural and institutional barriers of the patriarchy.

From BBC Oct. 3, 2025

Jane, your films were about sticking it to the man, snapping back at the patriarchy by showing strong female protagonists who didn’t conform to gender roles.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

But it has retained the grammatical norms of ancient patriarchies.

From New York Times Aug. 3, 2022

Instead they serve the story’s bracingly modern sensibility, its insistence on dramatizing the injustices of the past while confronting the patriarchies of the present.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 19, 2018

“I want to contribute our idea that most of human history was very different from what we have today, with our monotheistic patriarchies and their ‘pyramid’ structures of authority from the top,” she said.

From The New Yorker Oct. 19, 2015

Many of Africa’s Christians also practice F.G.M., and in any event, it didn’t originate with any of the three patriarchies we call monotheism.

From The New Yorker Oct. 23, 2014

For some this undoes all the film’s good work in deconstructing, destabilizing, and generally dissing oppressive male patriarchies.

From Slate Jun. 6, 2012



Vocabulary lists containing patriarchy


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training