fatherdom

English

Etymology

From father +‎ -dom.

Noun

fatherdom (uncountable)

1. (rare, archaic or dialectal) The state of being a father; fatherhood.
2. The world, sphere, or unity of fathers; fathers collectively.
   • 1886, John Ferguson McLennan, Studies in ancient history:

     Lastly, religion is represented as fostering the cause of women, chiefly through its mysteries assigning a divine character, as it were, to motherdom as compared with fatherdom.

   • 1906, The Classical Review:

     That the Aeschylean Oresteia turns on the conflict between motherdom and fatherdom is notorious.

   • 1908, Granville Stanley Hall, Edward Bradford Titchener, Karl M. Dallenbach, The American Journal of Psychology:

     Bachofen, the protagonist of the "mother-right" theory in the last century, observed that "motherdom is related to the idea of the day-bearing night, as fatherdom is to light sprung from the union of the sun with mother night."

Synonyms

• fatherhood