Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun patriarch

4 senses of patriarch

Sense 1
patriarch -- (title for the heads of the Eastern Orthodox Churches (in Istanbul and Alexandria and Moscow and Jerusalem))
       => spiritual leader -- (a leader in religious or sacred affairs)

Sense 2
patriarch, paterfamilias -- (the male head of family or tribe)
       => man, adult male -- (an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman); "there were two women and six men on the bus")
       => head of household -- (the head of a household or family or tribe)

Sense 3
patriarch -- (any of the early biblical characters regarded as fathers of the human race)
       => forefather, father, sire -- (the founder of a family; "keep the faith of our forefathers")

Sense 4
patriarch -- (a man who is older and higher in rank than yourself)
       => old man, greybeard, graybeard, Methuselah -- (a man who is very old)