Matriotism
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 School, hometown, or parish pride or loyalty, as opposed to nationalism or patriotism. uncountable
"I am delighted with your ma'''triotism. "Rome, Venice, Cambridge!" I take it for an ascending scale, Rome being the first step and Cambridge the glowing apex."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of matriotism. alt-of, uncountable
"Patriotism has incited men to live and die for the country and government; but Matriotism has impelled women to live and work for mankind. […] The Matriotism of household economics needs to be recognized as necessary for the whole of society."
- 3 The love or celebration of a woman's influence upon society; the female equivalent to male patriotism. uncountable
"Patriotism has incited men to live and die for the country and government; but Matriotism has impelled women to live and work for mankind. […] The Matriotism of household economics needs to be recognized as necessary for the whole of society."
- 4 The love of the motherland, as opposed to patriotism as love of the fatherland. uncountable
"[page 225] The most extreme Russian patriots are matriots at heart. By this I mean that their devotion to "Mother Russia" is so intense that the underlying maternal fantasy basis of patriotism comes to the surface as maternal imagery, while paternal imagery fades away. […] [page 226] A true "son of the Motherland" does not distinguish his own interests from those of the Motherland. Indeed he is one with her. This is the meaning of matriotism: […]"
- 5 Pacifist patriotism; the love of society as opposed to the love of the state. uncountable
"Matriotism is the opposite of patriotism. A yin to its yang, a counterforce to the violent militarism of patriotism. […] a Matriot would never send her child or another mother’s child to fight nonsense wars. She would march into war herself to protect her child from harm. […] Patriots cower behind the flag and send young people to die for the sake of material wealth."
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- 6 An enduring devotion to Mother Earth, ecology, sustainability, peace, and the survival of the human species. uncountable
Example
More examples"I am delighted with your ma'''triotism. "Rome, Venice, Cambridge!" I take it for an ascending scale, Rome being the first step and Cambridge the glowing apex."
Etymology
Blend of alma mater + patriotism, later reanalyzed as being derived from matri- by analogy with patriotism. Though attested since the mid-19th century, the continued placement of the word within quotation marks suggests it is often regarded as a neologism.
Related phrases
More for "matriotism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.