PATERNAL

parental, maternal, paternal

(adjective) relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent; “parental guidance”

paternal

(adjective) characteristic of a father

agnate, agnatic, paternal

(adjective) related on the father’s side; “a paternal aunt”

paternal

(adjective) belonging to or inherited from one’s father; “spent his childhood on the paternal farm”; “paternal traits”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

paternal (comparative more paternal, superlative most paternal)

Of or pertaining to one's father, his genes, his relatives, or his side of a family

Fatherly; behaving as or characteristic of a father.

Received or inherited from one's father.

Acting as a father

Antonyms

• maternal – mother

Coordinate terms

• avuncular – uncle

• maternal – mother

• materteral – aunt

Anagrams

• parental, prenatal

Source: Wiktionary


Pa*ter"nal, a. Etym: [L. paternus, fr. pater a father: cf. F. paternel. See Father.]

1. Of or pertaining to a father; fatherly; showing the disposition of a father; guiding or instructing as a father; as, paternal care. "Under paternal rule." Milton.

2. Received or derived from a father; hereditary; as, a paternal estate. Their small paternal field of corn. Dryden. Paternal government (Polit. Science), the assumption by the governing power of a quasi-fatherly relation to the people, involving strict and intimate supervision of their business and social concerns, upon the theory that they are incapable of managing their own afffairs.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

24 April 2025

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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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