materfamilias

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.

The film earned five Oscar nominations, including a best supporting actress nod for the veteran Billie Burke as the materfamilias of a wealthy but wacky family.

From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026

The novel recounts the history and hardships of the Binewski clan, carnival folk whose pater- and materfamilias, Al and Crystal Lil, create their own freak show.

From Washington Post • Nov. 11, 2022

Either way, to read that final sentence is to detect a sulphurous whiff of Kardashian materfamilias Kris, who will have regarded the furore engulfing her daughter as a major injustice.

From The Guardian • Apr. 6, 2017

Presiding with placid indifference over this freakish scene is the materfamilias, Paige, played by Kristine Nielsen, here giving what I can only call the Ultimate Extreme Kristine Nielsen Performance.

From New York Times • Nov. 8, 2015

The morrow will find her a materfamilias, sitting among her maids in that atrium, or in the more private apartments behind it:   Claudite ostia, virgines   Lusimus satis.

From Social life at Rome in the Age of Cicero by Fowler, W. Warde