Meaning & use
Paterfamilias
Last updated
The male head of a family or household, especially one who holds significant authority over its members.
See it in a sentence
As the paterfamilias, he still expects everyone to gather at his table every Sunday.
In ancient Rome, the paterfamilias held legal authority over his entire extended household.
A note on using this word
A direct borrowing from Latin, where it referred to a specific legal role in Roman law: the male citizen with full authority over his household.
Words with a similar meaning
patriarch
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
matriarch
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