empress
Americannoun
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the wife or widow of an emperor
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a woman who holds the rank of emperor in her own right
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a woman of great power and influence
Gender
See -ess.
Etymology
Origin of empress
1125–75; Middle English emperice, emperesse < Anglo-French; Old French emperesse, empereriz < Latin imperātrīcem, accusative of imperātrix, feminine of imperātor. See emperor, -trix
Explanation
An empress is either a female emporer or the wife of an emporer. Either way, it's a powerful woman. There are a lot of words that have gender built into them, like fireman and waitress. Another is empress, which is a female emperor. An emperor is like a king: a person with absolute power over a country. An empress is therefore like a queen. Also, just as a queen is the wife of a king, an empress might be the wife of an emperor, meaning she's not the ruler of the country but just married to the ruler.
Vocabulary lists containing empress
Chinese History - Introductory
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Japanese History - Middle School and High School
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Chinese History - Middle School and High School
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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.
I had done so many things, but people probably knew me most for “Maleficent,” but it was then fun to be in “The Great” and I’m playing an empress, but she’s not the Disney version.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2026
This upcoming Spring/Summer 2026 season has been inspired by Vietnam's former ruling Nguyen dynasty, notably Emperor Khai Dinh and the last empress consort, Nam Phuong, who both lived under colonial French rule.
From Barron's • Jan. 29, 2026
Among the stolen pieces was a large, diamond-encrusted bow brooch that belonged to the same empress.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 20, 2025
Her climb from lifestyle author to homemaking empress, along with her fall and brief imprisonment, spawned endless special reports, gossip columns, parodies, and unauthorized biographies both serious and salacious.
From Salon • Oct. 30, 2024
Illustriousness was a word she’d once heard in a film where people kept addressing a grand empress.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
