Patriarchal1. (a.) Of or pertaining to a patriarch or to patriarchs; possessed by, or subject to, patriarchs; as, patriarchal authority or jurisdiction; a patriarchal see; a patriarchal church.
2. (a.) Characteristic of a patriarch; venerable.
3. (a.) Having an organization of society and government in which the head of the family exercises authority over all its generations.
Thesaurus Entries
aboriginal, absolute, advanced, advanced in life, advanced in years, aged, along in years, ancestorial, ancestral, ancient, antepatriarchal, aristocratic, atavistic, authoritarian, autochthonous, autocratic, autonomous, bureaucratic, civic, civil, constitutional, democratic, despotic, dictatorial, elderly, fascist, fatherlike, fatherly, federal, federalist, federalistic, governmental, grandfatherly, grandmotherly, grandparental, gray, gray with age, gray-haired, gray-headed, grown old, gubernatorial, heteronomous, hoar, hoary, humanoid, maternal, matriarchal, matriarchic, monarchal, monarchial, monarchic, monocratic, mother, motherlike, motherly, official, old, old as Methuselah, oligarchal, oligarchic, parent, parental, parliamentarian, parliamentary, paternal, patriarchic, pluralistic, political, preadamite, preglacial, prehistoric, prehuman, prime, primeval, primitive, primogenial, primoprimitive, primordial, pristine, protohistoric, protohuman, republican, revered, reverend, reverential, self-governing, senectuous, theocratic, totalitarian, venerable, white, white with age, white-bearded, white-crowned, white-haired, wrinkled, wrinkly, years old