maternal

/məˈtʌrnl/

/məˈtʌnəl/

If you are maternal, you are like a mother. How you define what it is to be “like a mother” is up to you, but most people think of nurturing things like chicken soup and kisses on the forehead.

The adjective maternal comes from the Latin maternus, which means “of a mother.” Many traits are labeled as maternal, including physical traits that are genetically passed on from the mother — like being color blind. A woman’s desire to have a child is called her “maternal instinct,” and if you care for other people in a nurturing way you are being maternal, even if you are not a mother. Your mother’s mother is your “maternal grandmother.”

Definitions of maternal

1. adjective

   characteristic of a mother
   “"warm maternal affection for her guest"- Dorothy Sayers”

   synonyms:

   maternalistic

   showing maternal instincts

   motherlike

   suggestive of or acting like a mother

   motherly

   befitting a mother; warm and nurturing

   matriarchal

   characteristic of a matriarchy

   antonyms:

   paternal

   characteristic of a father

   fatherlike, fatherly

   like or befitting a father or fatherhood; kind and protective

   paternalistic

   benevolent but sometimes intrusive

   patriarchal

   characteristic of a form of social organization in which the male is the family head and title is traced through the male line
2. adjective

   relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent
   synonyms: parental, paternal
3. adjective

   relating to or derived from one's mother
   “maternal genes”
4. adjective

   related on the mother's side
   “my maternal grandmother”

   synonyms: enate, enatic

   related

   connected by kinship, common origin, or marriage