kingly
Americanadjective
adverb
adjective
-
appropriate to a king; majestic
-
royal
adverb
Synonym Usage
Kingly, regal, royal refer to that which is closely associated with a king, or is suitable for one. What is kingly may either belong to a king, or be befitting, worthy of, or like a king: a kingly presence, appearance, graciousness. Regal is especially applied to the office of kingship or the outward manifestations of grandeur and majesty: regal authority, bearing, splendor, munificence. Royal is applied especially to what pertains to or is associated with the person of a monarch: the royal family, word, robes, salute; a royal residence.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of kingly
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at king, -ly
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:
A purchase is theoretically possible and has historic precedents—although expanding one’s territory with gold or other payments has become rarer in modern times as nation states replaced empires and kingly realms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026
Later they turn to kingly and materialistic protections against their wandering.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2024
Robert Brustein, who died last month at the age of 96, was every inch a kingly critic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2023
Worn at every coronation since then, it symbolises kingly dignity.
From Reuters ● May 5, 2023
He set to work fashioning for himself a kingly cape made out of a scrap of the red tablecloth.
From "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread" by Kate DiCamillo
Doubtless, they were men cast in a kinglier mould than most men; but their secret was not in themselves.
From When the Holy Ghost is Come by Brengle, Col. S. L.
Or is it the rage of stark Edward; the base Unkingly revenge on a kinglier race; The wrong idly wrought on the patriot dead; The dark castle of doom; the scorn-diadem’d head?
From The Visions of England Lyrics on leading men and events in English History by Morley, Henry
Why, he was great of thews—and wise, thou say'st: Yet seems my sire to me the fairer-faced - The kinglier and the kindlier.
From Locrine: a tragedy by Swinburne, Algernon Charles
"Ah, wait," said Jean-aux-Choux—"wait till you have seen him on a battle-front, and you will be sure that, for all his faults, there never was a more manly man or a kinglier king!"
From The White Plumes of Navarre A Romance of the Wars of Religion by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
And deeper joy, serener faith, Spring forth the golden crowns to grasp, While death, the monarch, gently lay’th Upon their brows a kinglier clasp.
From The Poets and Poetry of Cecil County, Maryland by Various
In soliloquy and song, in bantering bawdry and scalp-tingling rhetoric, in the kingliest English and in tender or rough translation, they speak to man from mankind's heart.
From Time Magazine Archive
For Afghanistan, that is the kingliest accomplishment of all.
From Time Magazine Archive
Authority actually had come into the hands of the kingliest man in England, valiant and prudent, magnanimous and merciful.
From Life of John Milton by Garnett, Richard
And I'll not pray For gold—; The tanned face, garlanded with mirth, It hath the kingliest smile on earth; The swart brow, diamonded with sweat, Hath never need of coronet.
From Afterwhiles by Riley, James Whitcomb
Converted into steel, in masses that would lately have staggered men's thoughts, it becomes the kingliest instrument of peoples for subduing the earth.
From Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, May 24, 1883 by Kingsley, William C.
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.
