earl
noun
a British nobleman of a rank below that of marquis and above that of viscount: called count for a time after the Norman conquest. The wife of an earl is a countess.
earl
1 American
[url]
/ ɜrl /
noun
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earls
plural
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a British nobleman of a rank below that of marquis and above that of viscount: called count for a time after the Norman conquest. The wife of an earl is a countess.
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(in Anglo-Saxon England) a governor of one of the great divisions of England, including East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex.
Earl
2
American
[url]
/ ɜrl /
Or
Earle
noun
earl
British
/ ɜːl /
noun
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Female equivalent: countess. (in the British Isles) a nobleman ranking below a marquess and above a viscount
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(in Anglo-Saxon England) a royal governor of any of the large divisions of the kingdom, such as Wessex
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of earl
before 900; Middle English erl, Old English eorl; cognate with Old Saxon erl man, Old Norse jarl chieftain
Explanation
An earl is a member of the British nobility. An earl is ranked above a viscount or a baron, in case you know those titles. Earl certainly carries more clout than "Mister"! One of the ceremonial titles given to noblemen in the United Kingdom is earl. Being an earl used to come with a great deal of power and control over a certain region, including the authority to pass judgment in courts of law. While it's still prestigious to be an earl, there's less actual power involved in the position. The word itself comes from the Old English word eorl, "brave man, warrior, leader, or chief."
Vocabulary lists containing earl
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.
See Examples For:
Similarly, the earl of Peterborough's son refused both to remove his hat and to enter a plea when tried for treason in 1658.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2026
Though he had - as he put it - "defended the indefensible" by arguing against the removal of hereditary peers, the earl has accepted his fate and was not "unduly distressed by it".
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
"I don't think we should be using the hereditary privilege we have in the Lords to haggle or negotiate for life peerages," the earl said.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
They include the alabaster monument to John, seventh earl of Arundel, a high-profile casualty of the Hundred Years’ War with France.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
Even without mushrooms, the earl warmed to me.
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
In a statement released on Tuesday to mark the new book, Earl Spencer said he had been "inundated yet again" with requests for interviews about his sister, with the 30th anniversary of her death approaching.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Earl Warren, to start, was governor of California, and that kind of political experience wasn’t uncommon.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
Kennedy’s father was a friend of Gov. Earl Warren, and young Tony played with Warren’s children.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
Disraeli became their leader and would twice be named prime minister before Queen Victoria elevated him to the peerage as Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
I immediately go in search of her and find her exiting Uncle Al’s car with Earl.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Its inhabitants are those of “there will always be an England” England: stern vicars, timid curates, lords and earls, penniless titled wastrels living on allowances from their uncles, imperious aunts, upper-crust twits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2025
Prince William, the heir to the throne, will be there along with his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and their children, as well as marquesses, dukes, baronesses, lords and earls.
From New York Times ● May 5, 2023
The tradition caught on and English colleges became diploma mills for earls and barons who never cracked a book or scribbled on parchment in their storied halls.
From Washington Times ● May 9, 2018
The list was spattered with landowners, containing 11 dukes, six marquises, 14 earls and nine viscounts.
From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2013
I twined arms with a succession of momentary partners—dukes, earls, knights, squires—and back to Char.
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
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.
