empress
Americannoun
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the wife or widow of an emperor
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a woman who holds the rank of emperor in her own right
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a woman of great power and influence
Gender
See -ess.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
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
Explanation
An empress is either a female emporer or the wife of an emporer. Either way, it's a powerful woman. There are a lot of words that have gender built into them, like fireman and waitress. Another is empress, which is a female emperor. An emperor is like a king: a person with absolute power over a country. An empress is therefore like a queen. Also, just as a queen is the wife of a king, an empress might be the wife of an emperor, meaning she's not the ruler of the country but just married to the ruler.
Vocabulary lists containing empress
Chinese History - Introductory
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Japanese History - Middle School and High School
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Chinese History - Middle School and High School
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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.
Empress Masako, a former high-flying diplomat, struggled for years with a stress-related illness after joining the household, which some have put down to the pressure to have a boy.
From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026
He was senior operations manager for the the UK's Marine Pollution Control Unit and one of the first people to step on board the Sea Empress after it ran aground.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026
Andy Warhol traveled to Iran to paint Empress Farah in 1977.
From Salon • Jan. 22, 2026
If the thieves who dropped Empress Eugenie’s crown outside the Louvre during this year’s heist, sparked an interest in jeweled headgear, try this encyclopedic guide to the world’s most famous tiaras.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 28, 2025
So the best place to attack was on the western shore, a place called Empress Augusta Bay, forty miles from the nearest large Japanese base on Bougainville’s other side.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
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.
