Definition of "matriarchal" [ma•tri•ar•chal]

• Governed by (or as if by) a matriarch (adjective)
• Governed by females, rather than by males. (adjective)

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• "However, unless the viewer knows those stories already, they can only be guessed at; for these are explosive painterly meditations on the idea of matriarchal power (with only the occasional Hebrew name to anchor them more precisely) rather than explicit descriptions of historical figures."
• "It is popular with domestic tourists for its mountain and lake views as well as for the local Mosuo (摩梭) people, who are officially listed as a subgroup of the Naxi (纳西族) people and are best known as a matriarchal society, a label which can be misleading at times."
• "The assumption made by the colonial ethnographer about their societies having been "matriarchal" in composition is potentially misleading because matrilineality, while perhaps giving the preponderance of importance for purposes of inheritance to the female line, is not necessarily commensurate with female governance or domination."