How to Use matriarch in a Sentence

matriarch

noun
  • Our grandmother was the family's matriarch.
  • The tribe's matriarch ruled for 20 years before her death.
  • The matriarchs who fed the team.
    — Ricardo Adé, Miami Herald, 25 June 2026
  • The matriarch agreed to see her face-to-face instead.
    — Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 27 Mar. 2026
  • Then the matriarch in charge has only to slap the fish with her tail—which knocks them out.
    — Dorothy Rabinowitz, WSJ, 15 Apr. 2021
  • The siblings had to bury their beloved matriarch in the same burial plot as her son.
    — NBC News, 1 Aug. 2021
  • The matriarch had been open about her mental health struggles in the past.
    — Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 3 May 2022
  • The women, though, tended to live long, so each, in her turn, got to be the matriarch.
    — Kevin Fisher-Paulson, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 Feb. 2022
  • Since the matriarch is no longer living at home, Kristin is stepping up.
    — Jordan Greene, People.com, 24 Dec. 2024
  • None of them had quite the storied suffrage career of their matriarch.
    — Ariane Lange, Sacramento Bee, 5 Mar. 2024
  • Most of the short video involved somber tributes to the missing matriarch.
    — Sean Holstege, AZCentral.com, 4 Feb. 2026
  • On screen, she's portrayed as an old-school matriarch who keeps a close watch over the family.
    — Allison Degrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Sep. 2025
  • To this day, the recipes Dorsey and Lin use are derived from those of the beloved matriarch.
    — Joanna O'Leary, Chron, 24 Nov. 2020
  • Cloaked and solitary, the silver-haired matriarch looks straight down the camera's lens.
    — Nick Glass, CNN, 10 Sep. 2022
  • The matriarch or an elder will bless the food, or anyone attending can say the prayer.
    — Andrea Byrd, Travel + Leisure, 17 June 2021
  • And the swell of new faces and voices is exciting to the Kelce matriarch.
    — Meredith Woerner, Variety, 11 Feb. 2024
  • One of those sisters is the now-dead matriarch who deeded her house to Sophie.
    — Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2025
  • Comments poured in with fans praising the famous matriarch for her style and work ethic.
    — Angel Saunders, People.com, 8 Aug. 2025
  • The story is told through the eyes of Sunja, a matriarch who triumphs against all odds.
    — Nadja Sayej, Forbes, 16 May 2022
  • Bloomberg The matriarch of the James clan has always been the one calling the shots.
    — Elvia Limón, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2023
  • The matriarch’s death nudged some members of the family to the pro-vaccine side.
    — Marc Fisher, Lori Rozsa, Kayla Ruble, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Nov. 2021
  • My mom is like the pinnacle of the family, and the matriarch.
    — Lynnette Nicholas, Parents, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Their fierce matriarch, Edita, had owned the building for a couple of decades at least.
    — Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2025
  • The descendants of Flower, the late matriarch, lead a new era of meerkats.
    — Washington Post, 5 June 2021
  • The emotional video captured the pure joy and talent of the matriarch.
    — Maria Morava, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
  • No mountain was high enough for Motown’s matriarch.
    — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2026
  • The 75-year-old matriarch of the family has seen a decline in her health over the last year.
    — Norma Gonzalez, The Salt Lake Tribune, 9 Apr. 2021
  • Bernadette de Geyter, matriarch of the de Geyter family, lives in a dream house.
    — Brooke Bobb, Vogue, 5 Oct. 2020
  • That didn't stop her from playing a biblical matriarch.
    — Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 20 Mar. 2026
  • The families are led by matriarchs who can live 80 to 90 years.
    — Elizabeth Preston, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'matriarch.' 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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