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]

	

	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]

	

	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

	

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