matronly
Collocations
4ADJ.
upper
VERB + MATRONLY
dress, dressed
MATRONLY + NOUN
bonnet, girls, woman
PREP.
in
Definitions
adj
In the capacity of a matron; serving as a housekeeper or head nurse.
The matronly woman cared for the sick orphan.
Exuding the authority, wisdom, power, and intelligence of an experienced woman.
c. 1977, Janeane Garofalo, a skit the matronly upper arms girls know about life and love and losing
Having the appearance of a mature woman, often of larger physical stature and somewhat unkempt or dowdy.
27 April 2009, LA Times https://web.archive.org/web/20090427074230/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/04/susan-boyle-gets-a-makeover-is-she-going-hollywood-already.html Gone is her matronly gray frizzy hair and those bushy brows, frumpy frock and old lady pearls.
adv
In the manner of a matron.
The mother dressed matronly, in a bonnet and in black, always sat between her two big daughters, firm, directing, and repressed.
She was the same height and weight as Mother and had the same hairdo and dressed matronly like her. It was scary. She looked so much like Mother.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
6The matronly woman cared for the sick orphan.
Wiktionaryc. 1977, Janeane Garofalo, a skit the matronly upper arms girls know about life and love and losing
Wiktionary27 April 2009, LA Times https://web.archive.org/web/20090427074230/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/04/susan-boyle-gets-a-makeover-is-she-going-hollywood-already.html Gone is her matron
WiktionaryThe mother dressed matronly, in a bonnet and in black, always sat between her two big daughters, firm, directing, and repressed.
WiktionaryShe was the same height and weight as Mother and had the same hairdo and dressed matronly like her. It was scary. She looked so much like Mother.
Wiktionary“I had to dress matronly to get the position. I've had trouble with that before. I have actually been turned away for a position as stewardess because I was too pretty.”
Wiktionary