queen
noun
a female sovereign or monarch.
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queen
1 American
[kween]
/ kwin /
noun
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queens
plural
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a female sovereign or monarch.
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the wife or consort of a king.
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a woman, or something personified as a woman, that is foremost or preeminent in any respect.
a movie queen; a beauty queen; Athens, the queen of the Aegean.
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Slang: Usually Disparaging and Offensive. a term used to refer to a gay man, especially one who is flamboyantly campy or effeminate.
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a playing card bearing a picture of a queen.
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Chess. the most powerful piece of either color, moved across any number of empty squares in any direction.
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Entomology. a fertile female ant, bee, termite, or wasp.
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a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter Q.
verb (used without object)
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queens,
present (3rd person singular)
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queened,
past participle, past
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queening
present participle
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to reign as queen.
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to behave in an imperious or pretentious manner (usually followed byit ).
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Chess. to become promoted to a queen.
Queen
2
American
[kween]
/ kwin /
noun
queen
1
British
/ kwiːn /
noun
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a female sovereign who is the official ruler or head of state
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the wife or widow of a king
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a woman or a thing personified as a woman considered the best or most important of her kind
a beauty queen
the queen of ocean liners
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slang an effeminate male homosexual
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the only fertile female in a colony of social insects, such as bees, ants, and termites, from the eggs of which the entire colony develops
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( as modifier )
a queen bee
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an adult female cat
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one of four playing cards in a pack, one for each suit, bearing the picture of a queen
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a chess piece, theoretically the most powerful piece, able to move in a straight line in any direction or diagonally, over any number of squares
verb
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chess to promote (a pawn) to a queen when it reaches the eighth rank
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(tr) to crown as queen
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informal (intr) (of a gay man) to flaunt one's homosexuality
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(intr) to reign as queen
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informal (often foll by over) to behave in an overbearing manner
Queen
2
British
/ kwiːn /
noun
Sensitive Note
The term queen is usually used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting when in reference to a gay man, especially one considered to be effeminate or flamboyant. However, within the gay community, it is sometimes used in a friendly, teasing, or facetious manner, and can also be a positive term of self-reference.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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queensimple
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queenssimple
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have queenedperfect
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has queenedperfect
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am queeningprogressive
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are queeningprogressive
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is queeningprogressive
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have been queeningperfect progressive
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has been queeningperfect progressive
Past
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queenedsimple
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had queenedperfect
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was queeningprogressive
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were queeningprogressive
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had been queeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of queen
First recorded before 900; Middle English quene, quen, Old English cwēn “woman, queen”; cognate with Old Saxon quān, Old Norse kvān, Gothic qēns, from unattested Germanic kwēni-; akin to Old Irish ben, Greek gynḗ woman, Russian zhená, Sanskrit jani “wife”
Explanation
In a monarchy, a queen is the female ruler of the country. Whether you are the Queen of England or the queen of a honey bee colony, you are the female in charge. A queen inherits the title and the job, either from her father (the king) or her mother (the queen). Sometimes the term "queen consort" is used for a king's wife — in this case, the queen isn't the ruler, but merely married to the guy in charge. Many fairs, festivals, and other events crown an honorary queen, so you might be crowned the butter queen at the state fair. There's a queen in chess, the most powerful piece on the board, and a deck of cards has four queens. The most important bee in a colony is also a queen.
Vocabulary lists containing queen
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:
"Claudiapatra!" gasped model and actress Jerry Hall - spotting similarities in both grandeur and hairstyles between Claudia and Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Sporting knee-high boots and her platinum tresses loose, the 68-year-old pop queen sang "Bring Your Love" alongside Sabrina Carpenter before medleying with Charli XCX for "Danceteria."
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
Viewers of Tudor period dramas will know Elizabeth I as history’s dressiest queen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The Halloween episode will be hosted by newly minted horror queen Inde Navarrette from the hit film “Obsession,” joined by musical guest Gracie Abrams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
The way the people who work for a queen do.
From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are scheduled to visit Ceuta on Tuesday, on a trip coordinated with the government.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
Omar said the Queen had recognised a connection.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Anita Pallenberg’s Black Queen character in the 1968 film “Barbarella” was my fashion inspiration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Senior author Dr. Fayle from Queen Mary University of London said the disruption could eventually have evolutionary consequences.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
“It was when I felt the freest—when I still felt like a kid, before I was ever told that I’d be trained to be a Queen Mother.”
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
David Starkey’s account of Henry VIII’s reign takes us, day by day, from Greenwich and Westminster to Hampton Court, alongside Henry and his successive queens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The revisionist approach of “Six Wives” has traveled beyond a scholarly audience: Portraits of the queens such as those in Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s musical “Six” owe much to Mr. Starkey’s perspective.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
In the warm, dry spring a glut of glorious foundresses – new queens – emerged from hibernation to start their nests alone, carrying out all the nest building, egg laying, foraging and brood rearing.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
A new batch of queens from across the UK are set to battle it out in the hope of hearing RuPaul's magical words: "Condragulations, you're a winner, baby".
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
And cheerleaders aren’t too bad off either, but down here, the females who reign supreme are beauty queens.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
Rxa8, and White soon to be queened pawn will help deliver checkmates in a couple of moves.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 8, 2022
Once I had been sick and queened it over them for a while, now all of us strained ourselves trying to wait on Shelley; but she wouldn't have it.
From Laddie; a true blue story by Gene Stratton-Porter
There she queened it, with her General as loyal henchman, and Marshall Wace as a professor of drawing-room talents of most varied sort.
From Deadham Hard by Lucas Malet
But while she was with the Morels she queened it.
From Sons and Lovers by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
If once I had patronized Ellen, it was her turn now, and she queened it over me ruthlessly.
From Donald McElroy, Scotch Irishman by Willie Walker Caldwell
Kxg2 b5!, and White resigns as he has no pawn on b2 to stop Black’s a-pawn from queening after 49. axb5 a4.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 29, 2022
Ng7, and Black had to resign as the pawn has a clear path to the queening square after the queen checks run out.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 7, 2021
Black’s bishop pair and passed queenside pawns make the win more difficult, but Short navigates the tactical shoals to bring home the point while keeping the Black b-pawn from queening.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 5, 2021
Bb6!, and now the White a-pawn has a clear path to the queening square.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 10, 2021
She liked queening it in her father’s palace; and she did not like the prospect of yielding precedence to her mother-in-law, which would have been a necessity of her married life.
From The White Rose of Langley A Story of the Olden Time by Emily Sarah Holt
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.
