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)