How to Use matrilineal in a Sentence

matrilineal

adjective
  • As in Prayers for the Stolen, Huezo is interested in matrilineal bonds and female strength and courage.
    Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2023
  • As the head of the household, or dabu, 80-year-old Ku Mu is the undisputed boss, in line with the traditions of the Mosuo, said to be the last matrilineal society in China and one of few left in the world.
    Jason Motlagh, Marie Claire, 18 Jan. 2018
  • The show will always be a measure of a hero’s journey, matrilineal resolution by virtue of its largest pieces.
    Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Apr. 2022
  • Could The Lost Daughter be the latest in this unfortunate matrilineal trend?
    Vulture, 3 Feb. 2022
  • In Hopi society, which is matrilineal, the corn traditionally belongs to the women, as do the fields.
    Ian James, The Arizona Republic, 12 Sep. 2021
  • As Meilin soon learns, turning into a red panda is an ancient, matrilineal Chinese curse.
    Jane Hu, The New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2022
  • Since the Mandis are matrilineal, the idea that a man should marry a widow and her daughter is designed to safeguard the property-owning female lineages of both sides of the family.
    Abigail Haworth, Marie Claire, 28 May 2015
  • The story moves back and forth in time to trace three generations of a Southern Black family’s racial trauma — and a long matrilineal tradition that could guide Joan to healing.
    Washington Post, 5 Feb. 2022
  • In one, researchers looked at a matrilineal society in China to explore gender norms' impact on health.
    John Timmer, Ars Technica, 19 Nov. 2020
  • Our goal was to show that Kamala's real power is being from this matrilineal line of four generations of women.
    Christian Holub, EW.com, 15 July 2022
  • This notion is undermined by the Greek lists of Amazon generations, all traced by matrilineal lines.
    National Geographic, 18 June 2020
  • In fact, lion prides are matrilineal societies where the males barely stick around long enough to form the types of familial relationships shown in the Disney film, an all-new version of which comes out this July.
    Erin Biba, National Geographic, 8 July 2019
  • Over the ensuing years, the women in the queen’s inner circle began making their own versions of her 14 karat gold bracelet, and passing them down through a matrilineal succession that continues to this day.
    Victoria Gomelsky, Robb Report, 14 Feb. 2023
  • But Miriam wants Joan to follow their matrilineal tradition and enter the medical field.
    Leah Tyler, ajc, 21 Mar. 2022
  • Some tribes in the northeastern states, such as Meghalaya, follow a matrilineal system and the groom moves in with the bride’s family after the wedding, while others follow Christian traditions.
    Manavi Kapur, Quartz, 4 Mar. 2022
  • Sperm whales live in matrilineal social groups, the core of which is formed by related females, often comprising a grandmother, her daughter, and their offspring.
    Discover Magazine, 5 Aug. 2022
  • Whereas most of China is patrilineal, with children taking on the surnames of their fathers, the Mosuo are matrilineal, with children taking on the surnames of their mothers.
    Charles Choi, Discover Magazine, 8 Jan. 2018
  • But that was hardly revelatory to people like Pasqual, who trace their roots through Chaco Canyon and sustain cultures that center matrilineal ties.
    Mary Hudetz, ProPublica, 20 July 2023
  • Some peoples, like the Gitxsan, Haida, and Tsimshian, were also matrilineal — the mother passed on wealth, power, and inheritance to new generations.
    Annie Hylton, Longreads, 10 Aug. 2020
  • Although part of a matrilineal tribe, the Navajo Nation Council has always been male-dominated, as has the executive branch.
    Arlyssa D. Becenti, The Arizona Republic, 11 Feb. 2023
  • When no takers could be found in Japan, a five-alarm alert went up throughout the international community to save these members of the only group of primates whose behavior and matrilineal lines had been studied for over a decade.
    Carolyn Wells, Longreads, 26 July 2023
  • Not your mother’s business A study compared patriarchal and matrilineal tribes in Bangladesh with respect to entrepreneurship.
    Kevin Lewis, BostonGlobe.com, 4 May 2018
  • Vasquez Yui is a ceramicist working in a matrilineal tradition reaching back thousands of years.
    Andrea K. Scott, The New Yorker, 24 Dec. 2022
  • Female elephants and killer whales can live into their 80s in matrilineal societies, comprising up to four generations of mothers and offspring.
    Bridget Alex, Discover Magazine, 6 Feb. 2020
  • Naming a daughter after a mother isn’t a modern phenomenon; in some cultures, the tradition of matrilineal naming goes back centuries.
    Maggie Mertens, The Atlantic, 29 Apr. 2022
  • In a matrilineal society where women are revered as keepers of knowledge, Miss Navajo Nation came to represent the ideals of traditional womanhood.
    David Kelly, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2021
  • Their matrilineal wisdom, which should have been a birthright for every woman born into that family, instead surfaces intermittently across the centuries.
    Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2021
  • This female hyena also gets erections and is larger, more aggressive than the male hyenas and lives in matrilineal clans of up to 80 individuals governed by an alpha female matriarch.
    Katie Hunt, CNN, 12 June 2022
  • New research suggests that giraffes have a matrilineal society.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN, 7 Aug. 2021
  • Cross-cultural work finds that, in matrilineal societies where women are in authority, women are more competitive than men are.
    Ellevate, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2021

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

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