English edit

Etymology edit

patriarchal +‎ -ism

Noun edit

patriarchalism (countable and uncountable, plural patriarchalisms)

  1. The quality of being patriarchal.
  2. (historical, politics, philosophy, sometimes uppercase) 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.

Related terms edit