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patriarch🔊

(Christianity) The highest form of bishop, in the ancient world having authority over other bishops in the province but now generally as an honorary title; in Roman Catholicism, considered a bishop second only to the Pope in rank.

In Biblical contexts, a male leader of a family, tribe or ethnic group, especially one of the twelve sons of Jacob (considered to have created the twelve tribes of Israel) or (in plural) Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

A founder of a political or religious movement, an organization or an enterprise.

An old leader of a village or community.

💬 Quotations
The opinions of this junto were completely controlled by Nicholas Vedder, a patriarch of the village, and landlord of the inn, at the door of which he took his seat from morning till night, just moving sufficiently to […] keep in the shade of a large tree; […]

The male progenitor of a genetic or tribal line, or of a clan or extended family.

📑 Synonyms: ancestor forebear forefather

The male head of a household or nuclear family.

📑 Synonyms: highfather paterfamilias
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