king
noun
a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure, and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people.
king
1 American
[king]
/ kɪŋ /
noun
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kings
plural
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a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure, and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people.
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(initial capital letter) God or Christ.
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a person or thing preeminent in its class.
a king of actors.
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a playing card bearing a picture of a king.
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Chess. the chief piece of each color, whose checkmating is the object of the game; moved one square at a time in any direction.
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Checkers. a piece that has been moved entirely across the board and has been crowned, thus allowing it to be moved in any direction.
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Entomology. a fertile male termite.
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a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter K.
verb (used with object)
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kings,
present (3rd person singular)
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kinged,
past participle, past
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kinging
present participle
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to make a king of; cause to be or become a king; crown.
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Informal. to design or make (a product) king-size.
The tobacco company is going to king its cigarettes.
verb (used without object)
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kings,
present (3rd person singular)
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kinged,
past participle, past
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kinging
present participle
adjective
verb phrase
King
2
American
[king]
/ kɪŋ /
noun
-
Billie Jean (Moffitt) born 1943, U.S. tennis player.
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Clarence, 1842–1901, U.S. geologist and cartographer.
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Coretta Scott 1927–2006, U.S. civil rights leader (widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.)
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Ernest Joseph, 1878–1956, U.S. naval officer.
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Martin Luther, Jr., MLK, 1929–68, U.S. Baptist minister: civil rights leader; Nobel Peace Prize 1964.
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Maxine Micki, born 1944, U.S. springboard and platform diver.
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Richard, 1825–85, U.S. rancher and steamboat operator.
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Riley B. B.B., 1925–2015, U.S. blues singer and guitarist.
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Rufus, 1755–1827, U.S. political leader and statesman.
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Stephen, born 1947, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
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William Lyon Mackenzie, 1874–1950, Canadian statesman: prime minister 1921–26, 1926–30, 1935–48.
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William Rufus DeVane 1786–1853, vice president of the U.S. 1853.
king
1
British
/ kɪŋ /
noun
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a male sovereign prince who is the official ruler of an independent state; monarch
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a ruler or chief
king of the fairies
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( in combination )
the pirate king
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a person, animal, or thing considered as the best or most important of its kind
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( as modifier )
a king bull
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any of four playing cards in a pack, one for each suit, bearing the picture of a king
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the most important chess piece, although theoretically the weakest, being able to move only one square at a time in any direction See also check checkmate
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draughts a piece that has moved entirely across the board and has been crowned, after which it may move backwards as well as forwards
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God
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a title of any of various oriental monarchs
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verb
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to make (someone) a king
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to act in a superior fashion
King
2
British
/ kɪŋ /
noun
-
B.B., real name Riley B. King. born 1925, US blues singer and guitarist
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Billie Jean (née Moffitt ). born 1943, US tennis player: winner of twelve Grand Slam singles titles, including Wimbledon (1966–68, 1972–73, and 1975) and the US Open (1967, 1971–72, and 1974)
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Martin Luther. 1929–68, US Baptist minister and civil-rights leader. He advocated nonviolence in his campaigns against the segregation of Black people in the South: assassinated: Nobel Peace Prize 1964
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Stephen ( Edwin ). born 1947, US writer esp of horror novels; his books, many of which have been filmed, include Carrie (1974), The Shining (1977), Misery (1988), and Everything's Eventual (2002)
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William Lyon Mackenzie. 1874–1950, Canadian Liberal statesman; prime minister (1921–26; 1926–30; 1935–48)
king
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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kinghoodnoun
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kinglessnessnoun
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subkingnoun
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underkingnoun
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outkingverb (used with object)
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kinglessadjective
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kinglikeadjective
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unkingedadjective
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unkinglikeadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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kingsimple
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kingssimple
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have kingedperfect
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has kingedperfect
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am kingingprogressive
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are kingingprogressive
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is kingingprogressive
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have been kingingperfect progressive
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has been kingingperfect progressive
Past
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kingedsimple
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had kingedperfect
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was kingingprogressive
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were kingingprogressive
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had been kingingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of king
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English cyng, cyni(n)g; cognate with German König, Dutch koning, Old Norse konungr, Swedish konung, Danish konge; equivalent to kin + -ing 3
Explanation
In a monarchy, the male ruler is called the king. A king or queen rules until death, when the next in line — usually a son or daughter — inherits the throne. You can also use the word king to describe someone who's very powerful or well-known, like the king of Scrabble competitions or the king of the auto industry. In chess, the king is the most important piece, the one protected by every other piece on the board. King shares an Old English root with kin, or "family."
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:
Unlike so many members of the French elite, starting with the king, Lafayette’s life was spared and he was eventually released.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
He also wouldn’t have been able to play king on a team with LeBron James on it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Vietnam's Central Highlands produces around one sixth of the world's coffee, but farmers are switching their traditional crop for durian to cash in on surging Chinese demand for the pungent "king of fruits".
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who laid flowers outside the palace and signed a book of condolences after greeting the new king, said the country was "united in grief and gratitude".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
The Kohlrabi Court was silent, waiting for their king to wake.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
O’Donnell rejoins Gayle King and Nate Burleson at the table of the struggling morning program.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV died in the US last week aged 34 after receiving treatment for an aggressive form of cancer.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
“They realize they have an opportunity to help those without anyone else to represent them,” said Michelle King.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
CBS News told staffers Thursday that the former anchor of the “CBS Evening News” will become a co-anchor of the morning show on Tuesday Sept. 8 alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
King Charles VII did not come to her aid.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Don Omar remains one of the undisputed kings of reggaeton, helping to bring the genre to a wider audience and strengthen its dominance in popular culture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
It looks like Newcastle are going to be the counter-attack kings this season.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Rather than serving as "an impartial chronographic work," the researchers suggest it may instead have functioned as "a legitimizing canon of kings, which was periodically updated to remove short-lived or parallel Neo-Assyrian rulers."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
While Wu and Maayah sit atop the TransitRuns leaderboard, Guinness still recognizes the Berkeley students as kings of the BART.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
A young man approached him, seemingly a shepherd lad, but fine and well-mannered like the sons of kings when they tend sheep.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
The Ducks kinged the Kings, in essence, by retrenching and building a defense-first focus that offered players a way out of a deep deficit and paved the way for offense to follow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2016
He took a white piece from the pile beside the board and kinged his man.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
Its lords had borne a glorious name; God kinged them when the season came.
From The Wisdom of Confucius with Critical and Biographical Sketches by Epiphanius Wilson
He kinged it in the coffee-house, then the fashionable place at which the wits gathered, as Jonson had in the tavern.
From English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. (Henrietta Elizabeth) Marshall
Taka, daughter of chiefs and Fiji's pride, 3Lily of maidens, was betrothed to him; Desirous eyes kinged him with envy's crown.
From The Rose of Dawn A Tale of the South Sea by John La Farge
As Daemon put it in that meeting — he, too, has obvious flaws but also an early knack for saying what we’re all thinking — the thing the king is worst at is kinging.
From New York Times ● Aug. 28, 2022
“I’m watching girls and performers of all genders who maybe five years ago would have gone into burlesque who now are seeing drag kinging as the ultimate art form,” Mr. Grrrl said.
From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2021
What could have made this performance closer to kinging?
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2020
If Taylor Swift was to take what she did in this video and then perform as this character, that makes it more like drag kinging, because now she’s reusing this character.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2020
Both the boys claimed to excel in the art of kinging the ring; but, unfortunately, neither one had a top with him.
From Left Behind or, Ten Days a Newsboy by James Otis
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.
