Definition of "paternalistic" [pa•ter•nal•ist•ic]

• The quality of being paternal, i.e. like a father, e.g. characterized by behaving in benevolent and yet intrusive manner towards underlings (adjective)
• Of, pertaining to, characteristic of or practicing paternalism (adjective)

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• "Another category of gift, which I like a lot, is what I call "paternalistic" gifts—things you think somebody else should have."
• "But officials accompanying him made clear his target was France and what they described as the paternalistic ties it maintains with its dozen or so former colonies, mostly in west and central Africa."
• "Emanuel, Hillary, and Holbrook reconstitute the PNAC in paternalistic “Democratic” guises."