Lexic.us

Definition of Paternal

1. Adjective. Belonging to or inherited from one's father. "Paternal traits"

2. Adjective. Characteristic of a father.

3. Adjective. Relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent. "Parental guidance"

4. Adjective. Related on the father's side. "A paternal aunt"

Definition of Paternal

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

Definition of Paternal

1. Adjective. Of or pertaining to one's father, his genes, his relatives, or his side of a family; ''as'', "paternal grandfather" (one's father's father). ¹

2. Adjective. Fatherly; behaving as or characteristic of a father. ¹

3. Adjective. Received or inherited from one's father. ¹

4. Adjective. Acting as a father; ''as'' in "paternal filicide" (murder of a son committed by his father). ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Paternal

1. pertaining to a father [adj]

Medical Definition of Paternal

1. 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." 2. Received or derived from a father; hereditary; as, a paternal estate. "Their small paternal field of corn." (Dryden) Paternal government, 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. Origin: L. Paternus, fr. Pater a father: cf. F. Paternel. See Father. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Paternal

patentless patentlike patently patentor patentors patents pater pater familias patera paterae

paterero patereroes patereros paterfamilias paterfamiliases paternal (current term) paternal age paternal aunt paternal aunts paternal behaviour

paternal cousin paternal cousins paternal custody paternal deprivation paternal exposure paternal filicide paternal grandchild paternal grandfather paternal grandfathers paternal grandmother

Literary usage of Paternal

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Cambridge Modern History by Adolphus William Ward, George Walter Prothero (1907)
"This was the decree of the Legislative Assembly, which for the whole of France freed sons from paternal authority as soon as they came of age. ..."

2. Commentaries on the Laws of England by William Blackstone, William Carey Jones (1915)
"then the issue of Walter and Christian Stiles, the parents of his paternal grandfather; (No. 8.)—then the issue of Richard and Anne Stiles, ..."

3. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, Henry Hart Milman (1846)
"The first limitation of paternal power is ascribed to the ... The life of a citizen was less exposed than his fortune to the abuse of paternal power. ..."

4. The Works of John Locke, in Nine Volumes by John Locke (1824)
"First, then, paternal or parental power is nothing but that which parents have over their ... And thus, it is true, the paternal is a natural government, ..."

5. The Governments of France, Italy, and Germany by Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1914)
"On the first of these matters, the paternal nature of j*^ the government, there is no need ... All governments are growing more paternal at the present day, ..."

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