princess
Americannoun
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a nonreigning female member of a royal family.
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History/Historical. a female sovereign or monarch; queen.
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the consort of a prince.
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(in Great Britain) a daughter or granddaughter (if the child of a son) of a king or queen.
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a woman considered to have the qualities or characteristics of a princess.
adjective
noun
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(in Britain) a daughter of the sovereign or of one of the sovereign's sons
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a nonreigning female member of a sovereign family
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the wife and consort of a prince
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any very attractive or outstanding woman
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Also called: princess dress. princess line. a style of dress with a fitted bodice and an A-line skirt that is shaped by seams from shoulder to hem without a seam at the waistline
Gender
See -ess.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of princess
1350–1400; Middle English princesse < Middle French. See prince, -ess
Explanation
A princess is the daughter of a king or queen, or the wife of a prince. Some children like to have princess parties because they get to wear fancy dresses, tiaras, and little plastic high heels. In countries that are monarchies, rulers are born into their positions and are typically called kings and queens. If they have a daughter, she’s a princess. Women who marry into these families can also become princesses. The popular image of a princess might be Cinderella dressed for the ball, but modern princesses look a lot more like ordinary people. Princess is the feminine form of prince, from the Latin princeps, "chief leader."
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:
The 155th Brigade is known as "Anne of Kyiv", named after a Medieval Kyiv princess who married into the French royal family.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
Just as audiences naturally refer to the Disney princess as “she,” she argues it feels natural to think of Tilly the same way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
“Moana” became a box office hit, captivating audiences with catchy earworms from Lin-Manuel Miranda and a spunky young heroine who rejected the label of princess.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
That same year he began a romance with Princess Margaret, and two years later, Armstrong-Jones and the princess married at Westminster Abbey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Jack pointed up at the fairy, surprised that the princess, with her incredible hearing, hadn’t heard the fairy in her hair.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Revered as a national treasure in her native Philippines, she is also immortalised as the singing voices for not one but two Disney princesses, Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and the lead in Mulan.
From BBC ● May 4, 2026
Operating since 2002, Funky Divas & Dudes, like most of these party businesses, offers princesses, superheroes and other pop culture-inspired characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
The itinerary is "jam packed" with plans including meeting princesses and feeding dolphins.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
But for Palmer, the repeated mentions of both princesses in the emails "makes it difficult to distance themselves" from the saga.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
Seconds later, though, they thought this must be a joke, a very funny joke, because this was no castle and they were no princesses.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
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.
