A matriarch is an old and powerful female member of a family, for example a grandmother. a woman, especially an older woman, who controls a family or a social group patriarch (matri- + -arch (as in patriarch))
a female head of a family or tribe a feisty older woman with a big bosom (as drawn in cartoons)
If you describe a woman as matriarchal, you mean that she has authority and power within her family or group. the matriarchal figure of his grandmother
A matriarchal society, family, or system is one in which the rulers are female and power or property is passed from mother to daughter. the 3,000 years of the matriarchal Sumerian society. patriarchal