paternalism.
The treatment of people in a fatherly manner, especially by caring for them and sometimes being stern with them.
Meaning & usage
The treatment of people in a fatherly manner, especially by caring for them and sometimes being stern with them.
The guiding of people in a manner that limits their autonomy in the name of their own well-being.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree English paternal Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English paternalism From paternal + -ism.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.