kingdom

American  

[king-duhm] / ˈkɪŋ dəm /

noun

• kingdoms
  plural

1. a state or government having a king or queen as its head.

2. anything conceived as constituting a realm or sphere of independent action or control.

   the kingdom of thought.

   Synonyms:

   domain, empire, dominion

3. a realm or province of nature, especially one of the three broad divisions of natural objects.

   the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms.

4. Biology. a taxonomic category of the second highest rank, just below domain: in a traditional five-kingdom classification scheme, separate kingdoms are assigned to animals (Animalia), plants (Plantae), fungi (Fungi), protozoa and eukaryotic algae (Protista), and bacteria (Monera).

5. the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ.

6. the domain over which the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ extends, whether in heaven or on earth.

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kingdom British  

/ ˈkɪŋdəm /

noun

1. a territory, state, people, or community ruled or reigned over by a king or queen

2. any of the three groups into which natural objects may be divided: the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms

3. biology any of the major categories into which living organisms of the domain Eukarya are classified. Modern systems recognize four kingdoms: Protoctista (algae, protozoans, etc), Fungi , Plantae , and Animalia See also domain

4. theol the eternal sovereignty of God

5. an area of activity, esp mental activity, considered as being the province of something specified

   the kingdom of the mind

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kingdom Scientific  

/ kĭng′dəm /

1. The highest classification into which living organisms are grouped in Linnean taxonomy, ranking above a phylum. One widely accepted system of classification divides life into five kingdoms: prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, and animals.

2. See Table at taxonomy

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kingdom Cultural  

1. In biology, the largest of the divisions of living things. The best-known kingdoms are those of the plants and animals. Modern biologists recognize three additional kingdoms: Monera (or Prokaryotae) (for example, bacteria and blue-green algae), Protoctista (for example, red algae, slime molds, and amoebas and other protozoa), and fungi. (See Linnean classification.)

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Synonym Usage

Kingdom, monarchy, realm refer to the state or domain ruled by a king or queen. A kingdom is a governmental unit ruled by a king or queen: the kingdom of Norway. A monarchy is primarily a form of government in which a single person is sovereign; it is also the type of power exercised by the monarch: This kingdom is not an absolute monarchy. A realm is the domain, including the subjects, over which the king has jurisdiction; figuratively, a sphere of power or influence: the laws of the realm.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underkingdom
  noun
• kingdomless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• kingdoms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of kingdom

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English cyningdōm; see origin at king, -dom

Explanation

A kingdom is a territory or group of people ruled by the same monarch. You probably know the story of the prince who searched the kingdom to find the girl who left her glass slipper at the ball. A kingdom is a place — either literal or imagined — where someone or something reigns. A queen rules over her kingdom, which is land and the people who live on it, while a certain pop singer has a kingdom of young fans. In "the kingdom of the mind," creativity and imagination — not kings or queens — rule. In biology, a kingdom is a grouping of like organisms. For example, a dog is a member of the animal kingdom.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kingdom kingdoms

On Sunday the kingdom began hosting the World Petroleum Congress, an event that normally draws oil heavyweights from across the world, including energy ministers as well as CEOs from BP, Exxon Mobil Corp.,

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

In recent years, headlines about the country focused on the scale of its ambition, or the fantastical giga-projects girding Vision 2030, the full-steam-ahead drive to remake the kingdom into a business and entertainment powerhouse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish possess some of the most sophisticated nervous systems in the animal kingdom, giving them remarkable abilities such as solving problems and rapidly changing their appearance to blend into their surroundings.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

How Prince Mohammed handles this test will have consequences that stretch well beyond the kingdom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

“Don’t laugh! Act as if it was all right!” and, ordering Roderigo up, banished him from the kingdom with wrath and scorn.

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

The story is that in this period Scandinavia became distinct unified Christian kingdoms from a series of disparate and decentralized pagan tribes.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026

Uganda abolished its traditional kingdoms in 1967, but they were restored in the 1990s under President Museveni.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

A bitter succession dispute has erupted in one of Uganda's traditional kingdoms, days before the burial of its late king, who until his death had been the world's youngest reigning monarch.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

To reach the common ancestor shared by the plant and animal kingdoms, Anderson says researchers must look back to around 1.6 billion years ago.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026

Early Korean chronicles tell us that the different kingdoms had different languages.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond