How to Use filial in a Sentence

filial

adjective
  • This was hero worship on steroids, with a strong filial twist.
    James Marcus, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2021
  • To find answers means more truth, less filial piety, and God knows how much more time.
    Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 30 May 2022
  • Chung felt the pangs of filial guilt and went to her trailer and apologized.
    E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 1 Mar. 2021
  • This is a hope that is fully in accord with the filial respect that faithful Catholics owe the Holy Father.
    Daniel J. Mahoney, National Review, 6 Feb. 2020
  • Westover is a keen and honest guide to the difficulties of filial love, and to the enchantment of embracing a life of the mind.
    Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2018
  • That filial love is universal and the only way life persists.
    National Geographic, 9 Oct. 2017
  • Ah, the question that haunts the halls of greed, despair, self-worth, parental acceptance, filial devotion and how much is enough.
    Neil Senturia, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 June 2023
  • The band split up in the late 2000s over the long-running filial conflict between Noel Gallagher — the band’s songwriter — and Liam Gallagher, its lead singer.
    Jon Pareles, New York Times, 2 May 2020
  • But the single dark eye that’s not in shadow glistens with filial affection.
    Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 17 June 2023
  • This is highlighted even more by the way Mishima draws attention to the filial bond in the penultimate sentence.
    Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 7 Sep. 2020
  • Only in this filial saga, the redemption never happens, the hero never shows up.
    Jacob S. Hacker, Washington Post, 1 Aug. 2019
  • Both versions of the movie greatly simplify filial piety.
    Teresa Lo, USA TODAY, 8 Sep. 2020
  • There is also a strong dose of filial loyalty involved.
    Chris Jennings, WSJ, 14 June 2018
  • Their noses touch in bed at night, and what courses between them is platonic, romantic, filial all at once.
    Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 16 June 2019
  • The sons of both men were later elected to Congress, adding filial codicils to what had been a fraternal contract.
    Kevin Mahnken, The New Republic, 1 Sep. 2020
  • Rarely has such a fevered outpouring of filial rage and a son’s hopeless love been channeled into one brief document.
    Francine Prose, WSJ, 12 July 2018
  • Like a dorsal fin poking over the waves, their filial conflicts suggest the story’s dark undertow.
    Jesse Green, New York Times, 10 Aug. 2023
  • Besides filial duty, an election loss might have ruined the Ivanka brand.
    Nina Burleigh, Newsweek, 1 Feb. 2017
  • Once in the capital, James sinks deep into the filial and political dysfunction of the kingdom.
    Washington Post, 15 Feb. 2022
  • Paveena, founder and chairwoman of her own foundation, said that any young child asked by her parents to get married would agree out of filial devotion.
    Eileen Ng, The Seattle Times, 2 July 2018
  • In fact, the fearless modernist still lived with her mother, in a small apartment in Brooklyn, in a relation that had the appearance of deep filial devotion.
    Adam Davidson, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2017
  • For example, there’s the boilerplate assumption that Asian-centric movies must include martial arts and themes of filial piety — tropes that Shang-Chi seems to fill.
    Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Janet Yeoh, 84, praised the actor as intelligent and hardworking and a filial daughter.
    Syawalludin Zain, ajc, 14 Mar. 2023
  • About half of the states have filial responsibility laws.
    Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 15 July 2023
  • That trustworthiness isn’t confined to the filial and social circles.
    Jon Michail, Forbes, 24 June 2022
  • And all good Confucian children must observe filial piety.
    Chris Buckley, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2018
  • In the Trump family at large, a father’s love was contingent on filial devotion, Mary L. Trump also said.
    Monica Hesse, Washington Post, 25 Oct. 2020
  • One or multiple of his minions and peers—filial or otherwise—confront him on the battlefield.
    Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 26 Mar. 2023
  • As the relationship between man and youth deepens, crossing class lines and age barriers, Cem begins to feel a filial tug toward his boss.
    Geraldine Brooks, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2017
  • Rustin’s relation to Randolph was as powerful and filial, in its way, as Malcolm’s to Elijah Muhammad, although the instruction was in the pragmatics of politics, not the mythology of race.
    Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'filial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: