# patriarchalism

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. The quality of being patriarchal.
2. A political theory which arose in England in the seventeenth century, which emphasized the absolute power of the king as the paternal head of state, viewing his fatherly power as having been inherited genealogically from Adam.

## Etymology
From patriarchal + -ism.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/patriarchalism