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
Peter Dinklage’s mental patient is a lordly, theatrical Christ, who speaks fondly of opera and England.
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2020
Strength to the strong and the lordly and lonely.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Spring, the low prelude of a lordlier song: Summer, a music without hint of death: Autumn, a cadence lingeringly long: Winter, a pause;—the Minstrel-Year takes breath.
From The Poems of William Watson by Watson, William
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
Presently, as in legend was re-born the Arabian bird, arises from these ashes a lordlier and more spacious town.”
From Chivalry by Cabell, James Branch
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 Howells, William Dean
He would but frown To hear thee talk as though the woodlands there Were built no lordlier than the wide-walled town.
From Locrine: a tragedy by Swinburne, Algernon Charles
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
Of this, the lordliest mental exhibition, there is a sovereign example in the words wherewith Milton concludes the passage— “and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.”
From Essays Æsthetical by Calvert, George H. (George Henry)
The Alcmæonid drew himself to full height and gave his head its lordliest poise.
From A Victor of Salamis by Davis, William Stearns
“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 Coolidge, Dane
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.
