Search Result for "paternal": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (4)

1. belonging to or inherited from one's father;
- Example: "spent his childhood on the paternal farm"
- Example: "paternal traits"

2. characteristic of a father;

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

4. related on the father's side;
- Example: "a paternal aunt"
[syn: agnate, agnatic, paternal]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Paternal \Pa*ter"nal\, a. [L. paternus, fr. pater a father: cf. F. paternel. See Father.] 1. Of or pertaining to a father; fatherly; showing the disposition of a father; guiding or instructing as a father; as, paternal care. "Under paternal rule." --Milton. [1913 Webster] 2. Received or derived from a father; hereditary; as, a paternal estate. [1913 Webster] Their small paternal field of corn. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] Paternal government (Polit. Science), the assumption by the governing power of a quasi-fatherly relation to the people, involving strict and intimate supervision of their business and social concerns, upon the theory that they are incapable of managing their own affairs. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

paternal adj 1: belonging to or inherited from one's father; "spent his childhood on the paternal farm"; "paternal traits" 2: characteristic of a father [ant: maternal] 3: relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent; "parental guidance" [syn: parental, maternal, paternal] [ant: filial] 4: related on the father's side; "a paternal aunt" [syn: agnate, agnatic, paternal]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

43 Moby Thesaurus words for "paternal": adoring, affectionate, ancestorial, ancestral, concerned, conjugal, demonstrative, devoted, faithful, fatherlike, fatherly, filial, fond, grandfatherly, grandmotherly, grandparental, husbandly, indulgent, kindly, languishing, lovelorn, lovesick, lovesome, loving, maternal, melting, mother, motherlike, motherly, parent, parental, patriarchal, patrilateral, patrilineal, patrilinear, patrimonial, romantic, sentimental, soft, solicitous, tender, uxorious, wifely
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

PATERNAL. That which belongs to the father or comes from him: as, paternal power, paternal relation, paternal estate, paternal line. Vide Line.