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
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
When I entered Babylon in a peaceful manner, I took up my lordly abode in the royal palace amidst rejoicing and happiness.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020
"And the silver brooch. Ser Rodrik will want me to look lordly."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Devil and brute Thou dost transmute To higher, lordlier show, Who art in sooth that lovely Truth The careless angels know!
From Verses 1889-1896 by Kipling, Rudyard
And over these living, and them that died, From one to the other side A lordlier light than comes of earth or air Made the world's future fair.
From Two Nations by Swinburne, Algernon Charles
A purer passion, a lordlier leisure, A peace more happy than lives on land, Fulfils with pulse of diviner pleasure The dreaming head and the steering hand.
From Astrophel and Other Poems Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne, Vol. VI by Swinburne, Algernon Charles
Love's a divinity that speaks 'Awake Sweetheart!' and straightway breaks A lordlier light than sunshine's glow, A sweeter life than mortals know.
From A Daughter of Fife by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston
He was kin to men lordlier than himself, the true-hearted who had ridden the King's path and trampled a little world under foot.
From The Half-Hearted by Buchan, John
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
The man— Eteocles I mean—who died for Thebes Fighting with eminent prowess on her side, Shall be entombed with every sacred rite That follows to the grave the lordliest dead.
From The Seven Plays in English Verse by Sophocles
Like desert pools that shew the stars Once in long leagues—even such the scarce-snatched hours Which deepening pain left to his lordliest powers:— Heaven lost through spider-trammelled prison-bars!
From Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti by Caine, Hall, Sir
His penchant for "lions" always led him to prefer the lordliest among them.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 101, May, 1876 by Various
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.
