Word.ws English Dictionary

matronly

/ˈmeɪtɹənli/

matronly adjective: in the capacity of a matron; serving as a housekeeper or head nurse.

Adjective

matronly (comparative more matronly, superlative most matronly)

  1. In the capacity of a matron; serving as a housekeeper or head nurse.
    • The door opened, but it was to admit a middle-aged matronly lady with good-humour and domestic capability proclaimed by every detail of her smiling face and easy manner.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
  2. Exuding the authority, wisdom, power, and intelligence of an experienced woman.
    • the matronly upper arms girls know about life and love and losingc. 1977, Janeane Garofalo, a skit
  3. Having the appearance of a mature woman, often of larger physical stature and somewhat unkempt or dowdy.
    • 27 April 2009, LA Times https://web.archive.org/web/20090427074230/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/04/susan-boyle-gets-a-makeover-is-she-going-hollywood-already.html
      Gone is her matronly gray frizzy hair and those bushy brows, frumpy frock and old lady pearls.

Adverb

matronly (comparative more matronly, superlative most matronly)

  1. In the manner of a matron.
    • The mother dressed matronly, in a bonnet and in black, always sat between her two big daughters, firm, directing, and repressed.1906, Gertrude Stein, Three Lives, page 166
    • She was the same height and weight as Mother and had the same hairdo and dressed matronly like her. It was scary. She looked so much like Mother.2004, Irene Kai, The golden mountain: beyond the American dream, →ISBN, page 214

Forms of matronly

Adjective
comparativemore matronly
superlativemost matronly
Adverb
comparativemore matronly
superlativemost matronly

Origin of matronly

From matron + -ly.

Words formed from matronly

Questions about matronly

What does matronly mean?
Matronly means in the capacity of a matron; serving as a housekeeper or head nurse.
What part of speech is matronly?
Matronly can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce matronly?
Matronly is pronounced /ˈmeɪtɹənli/.

Words near matronly in the dictionary

  1. matronized
  2. matronizes
  3. matronizing
  4. matronlike
  5. matronliness
  6. matronly
  7. matrons
  8. matrons of honor
  9. matrons of honour
  10. matronship
  11. matronships

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: matronly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-matronly.ogg.

Cite this entry: “matronly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/matronly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.