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• leonine
  leonine

  adjective

  of or relating to the lion.
• Leonine
  Leonine

  adjective

  connected with one of the popes called Leo

leonine

American  

[lee-uh-nahyn] / ˈli əˌnaɪn /

adjective

1. of or relating to the lion.

   We breathlessly watched the pride, in its leonine majesty, as it moved across the veldt.

2. resembling or suggestive of a lion.

   the conductor's wild, leonine hair.

3. (usually initial capital letter) of or relating to Leo, especially Leo IV or Leo XIII.

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Leonine ¹ British  

/ ˈliːəˌnaɪn /

adjective

1. connected with one of the popes called Leo

2. a district of Rome on the right bank of the Tiber fortified by Pope Leo IV

3. of or relating to certain prayers in the Mass prescribed by Pope Leo XIII

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noun

1. Also called: Leonine verse.

   1. a type of medieval hexameter or elegiac verse having internal rhyme

   2. a type of English verse with internal rhyme

leonine ² British  

/ ˈliːəˌnaɪn /

adjective

1. of, characteristic of, or resembling a lion

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Etymology

Origin of leonine

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English leonyn, from Latin leōnīnus “lionlike,” equivalent to leōn- (stem of leō) + -īnus; see origin at lion, -ine ¹

Explanation

If you are leonine you resemble a lion in either good or bad ways. Lions are both feared and loved. They are kings of the jungle, agile merciless majestic hunters. If you have leonine courage, you are as strong and brave as a lion. However, if you have a leonine mane, that might suggest that you're having a bad hair day.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

leonine Leonine

What looked on the picture to be a long, leonine dangling tail with a bob at the end could have been a shadow cast by vegetation.

From Reuters ● Jul. 21, 2023

Magazines often shoot him in profile; his striking, leonine features call to mind the dreamboats of Old Hollywood, like Cary Grant by way of Versace.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2022

The series was created by American writer David Jenkins and produced by the prolific Taika Waititi, who also stars as Blackbeard, to whom he brings a leonine grace.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2022

She restrains from belting these lines out with her usual, leonine force, finding delicate new tones that double down on the song's devastating emotional impact.

From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2021

Major de Coverley was a splendid, awe-inspiring, grave old man with a massive leonine head and an angry shock of wild white hair that raged like a blizzard around his stem, patriarchal face.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Mr. Davis is the founder of the Leonine Project and was the inaugural executive director of the New York Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Led by Fred Kogel, Munich-based Leonine was formed in 2019 through the merger of several German media production and distribution companies, such as Tele München Group, Universum Film, i&u TV and Wiedemann & Berg Film.

From Reuters ● Nov. 28, 2023

Dwyer is also a fellow in the Leonine Forum, a conservative-leaning group of elite Catholic young professionals that meets for monthly religious discussions.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 16, 2018

According to the journalist who received them, the butler was part of a broader network of Vatican employees and officials bent on exposing corruption and cronyism beyond the Leonine Walls.

From Economist ● Feb. 14, 2013

He went now to the Leonine quarter, where the new Church of St. Peter's was to be built in place of the one which had been pulled down.

From Historical Miniatures by August Strindberg

Related Words

• big-name
• distinguished
• esteemed
• famed
• high-ranking
• illustrious
• noted
• outstanding
• preeminent
• prominent
• renowned
• well-known