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paternalmore about paternal

paternal


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Paternal  \Pa*ter"nal\,  a.  [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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  paternal 
  adj  1:  belonging  to  or  inherited  from  one's  father;  "spent  his 
  childhood  on  the  paternal  farm";  "paternal  traits" 
  2:  characteristic  of  a  father  [ant:  {maternal}] 
  3:  relating  to  or  characteristic  of  or  befitting  a  parent; 
  "parental  guidance"  [syn:  {parental},  {maternal}]  [ant:  {filial}] 
  4:  related  on  the  father's  side  "a  paternal  aunt"  [syn:  {agnate}, 
  {agnatic},  {paternal(p)}] 




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