maternal
Of or pertaining to a mother; having the characteristics of a mother; motherly.
Example
“His weakness seemed to bring out her maternal instincts.”
Other meanings
Related through the mother, or her side of the family.
“Toby is my maternal uncle.”
Derived from the mother as opposed to the foetus during pregnancy.
Related words
- allomaternal
- antimaternal
- bimaternal
- fetomaternal
- foetomaternal
- grandmaternal
- maternalisation
- maternalism
- maternalist
- maternalistic
- maternalization
- maternalness
Word history
From Latin "māternus" (maternal; related to the mother or her side of the family).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “maternal” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.