adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of matronly
Explanation
If someone describes you as matronly, they think you look or act like a middle-aged woman. So, if someone calls your dress matronly and you think it's hip, you may be sadly mistaken. It's never a compliment to call someone matronly, as it brings to mind all kinds of stereotypes about being an adult woman, particularly one who's married and has kids. In fact, matronly comes from matron, which today primarily means "female prison warden," but which once meant "married woman," especially one who is respectable, unadventurous, and mature.
Vocabulary lists containing matronly
The Awakening
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Novel Study: The Awakening, Chapters 1–19
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The Red Car to Hollywood
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But that doesn’t mean that she has to look matronly, either.
From Salon • Feb. 28, 2026
I’ve got a few straight friends who are obsessed with Madonna right now because she’s a little fuller, a little more matronly.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 24, 2023
The dress was off the shoulder; she is clearly attuned to the small details that ensure that, at 71, she never looks matronly.
From Washington Post • Apr. 26, 2023
Out is the matronly decorum that characterized Elizabeth’s reign.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 24, 2023
Robbie was there, too, bustling about in a floral-print dress like the belle of the ball—albeit a matronly belle—making sure all her students had arrived with sheet music in hand.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
