1. of or relating to a residence pattern in which a married couple lives with or near the wife's family
Usage: anthropology; ethnography

Examples

• In matrilocal societies, a husband typically moves into his wife's household after marriage.
• The anthropologist studied matrilocal customs among indigenous communities in the Pacific Islands.
• Matrilocal residence patterns often correlate with matrilineal inheritance systems.
• Some cultures practice matrilocal marriage arrangements to strengthen family bonds through the female line.
• The research compared matrilocal and patrilocal kinship structures across different regions.