Search Result for "maternal":
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (4)

1. characteristic of a mother;
- Example: "warm maternal affection for her guest"- Dorothy Sayers

2. relating to or derived from one's mother;
- Example: "maternal genes"

3. relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent;
- Example: "parental guidance"
[syn: parental, maternal, paternal]

4. related on the mother's side;
- Example: "my maternal grandmother"
[syn: enate, enatic, maternal(p)]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Maternal \Ma*ter"nal\, a. [F. maternel, L. maternus, fr. mater
   mother. See Mother.]
   Of or pertaining to a mother; becoming to a mother; motherly;
   as, maternal love; maternal tenderness.
   [1913 Webster]

   Syn: See Motherly.
        [1913 Webster]


Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

43 Moby Thesaurus words for "maternal":
   adoring, affectionate, ancestorial, ancestral, caring, conjugal,
   demonstrative, devoted, doting, faithful, fatherlike, fatherly,
   filial, fond, grandfatherly, grandmotherly, grandparental,
   husbandly, kind, kindly, languishing, lovelorn, lovesick, lovesome,
   loving, maternalistic, melting, mother, motherlike, motherly,
   nurturing, parent, parental, paternal, patriarchal, romantic,
   sentimental, soft, tender, understanding, uxorious, warm, wifely