Progression

matriarch (MAY-tree-ark) noun

1. A woman who is the head of a family.

2. A woman who is the founder or leader of a group or community.

3. A venerable old woman.

Patriarch is the masculine form of this word.

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus 3: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=matriarch

"But it's the wonderful character of Eka, a matriarch whose tenacity and optimism reminded me of Steinbeck's Ma Joad."
Since Otar Left; Magnetic Island News (Australia); Feb 2, 2005.

"Conservative enough to be worn to work and designed with enough youthful energy to be worn out for a night on the town, these designs, according to house matriarch Miuccia Prada, represent what men really want from fashion."
Cristoph Mark; All's Fine And Dandy in Milan; Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo, Japan); Jan 24, 2005.

This week's theme: feminine and masculine forms of words.

Permalink:
http://wordsmith.org/words/matriarch.html

Posted by Keya at February 18, 2005 06:38 PM