prince

¹ American  

[prins] / prɪns /

noun

1. a nonreigning male member of a royal family.

2. History/Historical. a sovereign or monarch; king.

3. (in Great Britain) a son or grandson (if the child of a son) of a king or queen.

4. the English equivalent of any of various titles of nobility in other countries.

5. a holder of such a title.

6. the ruler of a small state, as one actually or nominally subordinate to a suzerain.

   Monaco is ruled by a prince.

7. a person or thing that is chief or preeminent in any class, group, etc..

   a merchant prince.

8. a person possessing admirably fine and genial characteristics.

   He is a prince of a man.

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Prince ² American  

[prins] / prɪns /

noun

1. Harold S(mith) Hal, 1928–2019, U.S. stage director and producer.

2. Prince Rogers Nelson, 1958–2016, U.S. singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

3. a male given name.

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prince ¹ British  

/ prɪns /

noun

1. (in Britain) a son of the sovereign or of one of the sovereign's sons

2. a nonreigning male member of a sovereign family

3. the monarch of a small territory, such as Monaco, usually called a principality, that was at some time subordinate to an emperor or king

4. any sovereign; monarch

5. a nobleman in various countries, such as Italy and Germany

6. an outstanding member of a specified group

   a merchant prince

7. informal a generous and charming man

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Prince ² British  

/ prɪns /

noun

1. full name Prince Rogers Nelson. born 1958, US rock singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. His albums include Dirty Mind (1981), Purple Rain (1984), Parade (1986), and Sign o' the Times (1987)

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Other Word Forms

• princeless adjective
• princelike adjective
• princeship noun

Etymology

Origin of prince

1175–1225; Middle English < Old French < Latin prīncip- (stem of prīnceps ) first, principal (adj.), principal person, leader (noun), equivalent to prīn- for prīmus prime + -cep- (combining form of capere to take) + -s nominative singular ending

Example Sentences

“Oh, let’s see…this week my sister put her phone through the dishwasher, my mom lost all her passwords, and a Norwegian prince wanted to leave his fortune to my cousin.”

From Literature

A Saudi readout of the Tuesday call said that the crown prince had stressed that the kingdom “will not allow its airspace or territory to be used for any military actions against Iran.”

From The Wall Street Journal

"I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there," the prince said.

From BBC

Shortly before the prince's statement, Sir Keir gave his own reaction where he said if he himself had "misspoken in that way", he would "certainly apologise".

From BBC

In court on Wednesday, he suggested Prince Harry knew his social circle was "leaky", to which the prince, giving evidence, responded: "My social circles were not leaky, I want to make that absolutely clear."

From BBC