lordly
Americanadjective
-
suitable for a lord, as trappings or ceremonies; grand or magnificent.
-
insolently imperious; haughty; arrogant; overbearing.
lordly contempt.
- Synonyms:
- domineering
- Antonyms:
- meek
-
of or relating to a lord.
-
having the character or attributes of a lord.
-
befitting a lord, as actions.
lordly manners.
adverb
adjective
-
haughty; arrogant; proud
-
of or befitting a lord
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lordly
before 1000; Middle English; Old English hlāfordlīc. See lord, -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:
That team became the lordly Yankees, an “aesthetically evil” and “universally despised dynasty” that, nonetheless, Mr. Gittlitz grudgingly admits, has a lot of working-class fans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Roan, dressed as a lordly knight, emerges from a castle and conquers it.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2025
From 1958 to 1961, sulking Giants and Dodgers fans had to put up with the lordly Yankees winning three pennants and two World Series.
From New York Times ● Mar. 23, 2022
The lordly NFL could be brought to heel, either with a 10-figure payment or a trial in which Kroenke and Goodell could squirm uncomfortably on the witness stand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2021
"And the silver brooch. Ser Rodrik will want me to look lordly."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
This accustomed visitor would seem a gifted vocalist, but for the inevitable comparison between his thinner note and the gushing melodies of the lordlier bird.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 59, September, 1862 by Various
A child's heart toward his kind is not more pure, An eagle's toward the sun no lordlier eye.
From Victor Hugo: His Life and Works by G. Barnett Smith
Our Bateman comes of lordlier and more ancient lineage.
From The Valet's tragedy, and other studies by Andrew Lang
Devil and brute Thou dost transmute To higher, lordlier show, Who art in sooth that lovely Truth The careless angels know!
From The Knave of Diamonds by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell
That is now a provincial High Street beside its lordlier compeer; but I remember when Broadway stormed and swarmed with busy life.
From Imaginary Interviews by William Dean Howells
A Hogarthian cast of characters, from Britain's lordliest media barons to subalterns on the yellowest of yellow rags.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 29, 2012
With a membership limited to 300, the National Academy is the lordliest body of scholars in the country and the Comstock Prize, its highest honor, is awarded only once every five years.
From Time Magazine Archive
And above all, let us be mindful at this time of the great scheme of nature wherein the humblest plant and flower, as well as the lordliest of the animal creation, has its proper place.
From Ohio Arbor Day 1913: Arbor and Bird Day Manual Issued for the Benefit of the Schools of our State by Grace R. Clifton
I. Love, loyallest and lordliest born of things, Immortal that shouldst be, though all else end, In plighted hearts of fearless friend with friend, Whose hand may curb or clip thy plume-plucked wings?
From A Midsummer Holiday and Other Poems by Algernon Charles Swinburne
“Oh, I’d like to!” beamed Billy, “only I’m afraid you might be jealous─” “Not of no pup, kid,” returned Wunpost with his lordliest swagger, “and if you steal him, by grab you can have him!”
From Wunpost by Dane Coolidge
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
