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
There were other grownies around, so he might have felt obligated to be kingly, to pat us on the head.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
"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 S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
But they fail not, the kinglier breed, Who starry diadems attain; To dungeon, axe, and stake succeed Heirs of the old heroic strain.
From The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell by James Russell Lowell
He can be gentle as a bride, While none can rule with kinglier pride; Calm to hear, and wise to prove, Yet gay as lark in soaring love.
From Thomas Davis, Selections from his Prose and Poetry by T. W. (Thomas William) Rolleston
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
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 Henry Morley
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
Even that I hold the kingliest point of all, To brook afflictions well: and by how much The more his state and tottering empire sags, To fix so much the faster foot on ground.
From The Growth of English Drama by Arnold Wynne
And let its mournful echoes roll From sphere to sphere, from pole to pole, O’er the flight of the greatest, kingliest soul That ever in battle fell.
From Songs and Ballads of the Southern People 1861-1865 by Anonymous
In sooth, he was the noblest, kingliest child the sun ever shone on.
From In the Wars of the Roses A Story for the Young by Evelyn Everett-Green
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.
