What is "maternalistic"

Usage examples of "maternalistic".

So while it was desire for revenue that prompted the early sales of the public domain in the Mississippi Valley, the nation got in return not only means to help pay its Revolution debt, but, incidentally, settlements of highly individualistic, self-dependent, and interdependent pioneers, gathered about one highly paternalistic or maternalistic institution--the public school.

Seeing through maternalistic, conservative propaganda to a fragment of truth.