empress

[em-pris]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR empress ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a female ruler of an empire.

the consort of an emperor.

RELATED WORDS

Origin of empress

1125–75; Middle English emperice, emperesse < Anglo-French; Old French emperesse, empereriz < Latin imperātrīcem, accusative of imperātrix, feminine of imperātor. See emperor, -trix

Usage note

See -ess.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for empress

If you want Cinderella to become the empress of the world...
The March Madness Teams to Cheer If Yours Got Bounced|Ben Teitelbaum|March 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Empress added a special clause for land-owning farmers, who were allowed to distill up to three hundred liters.
What to Drink When it’s Cold? The Glory of Austrian Schnaps|Jordan Salcito|January 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He quickly made a name for himself among the French aristocracy; among his patrons was Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.
Cartier Retrospective Looks Back at 100 Years of Creating Bling for the Stars|Chantel Tattoli|December 10, 2013|DAILY BEAST
With Empress of Fashion: A Life of Diana Vreeland, Stuart does more than celebrate and bear witness.
Understanding Diana Vreeland, ‘Empress of Fashion’|Robin Givhan|November 28, 2012|DAILY BEAST

Dakota Fanning, playing the Volturi empress Jane, is reduced to pacing and giving death stares out of Mean Girls.
Why ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2’ Jumps the Shark|Ramin Setoodeh|November 16, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The empress had not waited for this serious reverse to claim from France the promised aid.
A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times|Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
The Empress listened to my arguments, but said that we had gone too far now to draw back.
With the Allies to Pekin|George Alfred Henty
By order of the empress Theodora, his body was brought to Constantinople with great pomp, in 846, on the 13th of March.
The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March|Sabine Baring-Gould
Two empires, or rather an empress and a minister, deeply hate us but they are powerless!
The Royal Life Guard|Alexander Dumas (pere)
Such was the wealth, the splendour, and luxury of the proud city of Goa—the Empress of the East at the time we are now describing.
The Phantom Ship|Frederick Marryat

British Dictionary definitions for empress

empress

noun

the wife or widow of an emperor

a woman who holds the rank of emperor in her own right

a woman of great power and influence

Word Origin for empress

C12: from Old French empereriz, from Latin imperātrix feminine of imperātor emperor

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for empress

mid-12c., emperice, from Old French emperesse, fem. of emperere (see emperor). Queen Victoria in 1876 became one as "Empress of India."

empress

noun

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Origin of empress

Usage note

Examples from the Web for empress

empress

noun

Word Origin for empress