adjective
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generous or lavish
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of, belonging to, or characteristic of a prince
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of princely
Explanation
Something princely is controlled by or suits a prince, like a princely territory or a princely velvet cape. If a prince (a male royal, often the son of a king or queen) rules certain areas, they are princely territories. And if a prince wears certain clothes, you could say he sports a princely outfit. You can also use this adjective to mean "fancy" or "opulent," so you might describe the princely furnishings in your elegant hotel room or the princely offerings on the menu at a four-star restaurant.
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:
They had assiduously saved the cash that came in from gifts and summer jobs, and it had compounded over time to reach a princely sum.
From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026
Before its complete demise, it was almost brought to the Indian princely state of Hyderabad, where it could have taken root.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
Once part of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore, it was known as "garden city" or a "pensioner's paradise".
From Barron's ● Nov. 27, 2025
The stripping of a princely title is so rare in British royal-legal history that the last person it happened to was Ernest Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, Earl of Armagh.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2025
I knew all that, but perhaps it was a princely duty to explain matters to one’s subjects.
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
But I am of a greater and princelier house than the Sons of the Cat.
From Salute to Adventurers by John Buchan
Nearly all the houses had vegetable gardens, and some of them had flower-gardens that appeared princelier pleasaunces to my boy than he has ever seen since in Europe or America.
From A Boy's Town by William Dean Howells
No house in Venice had held this right for more generations; no house was princelier in its bearing, nor more superbly republican!
From A Golden Book of Venice by Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull
Further to add to the complexity, he loved his liberty; he was princelier free; he had more subjects, more slaves; he ruled arrogantly in the world of women; he was more himself.
From The Egoist by George Meredith
Beverly, boy!—on his white steed, I ween, A princelier presence has never been seen; And as yonder he lies, from the groups all apart, I bow to him loyally,—bow with my heart.
From Beechenbrook A Rhyme of the War by Margaret J. Preston
What are the princeliest of them beside the fiery halls of Tir-na-noge and the flame-built cities of the Gods?
From AE in the Irish Theosophist by George William Russell
He was at his princeliest estate—never would he be handsomer.
From Rose of Dutcher's Coolly by Hamlin Garland
The shade of the princeliest hero dwelling there the 1 Georg. lib. i.
From The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by William Rounseville Alger
If Kemble was the ideal Coriolanus and Henry V., he was too kingly as Hamlet, and Booth is the princeliest Hamlet that ever trod the stage.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 103, May, 1866 by Various
Did not that position make him a sort of master, at any rate far superior to the princeliest puppet?
From The Cost by David Graham Phillips
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