queen bee
Americannoun
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queen bees
plural
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a fertile female bee.
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a woman who is in a favored or preeminent position.
noun
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the fertile female bee in a hive
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informal a woman in a position of dominance or ascendancy over her peers or associates
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of queen bee
First recorded in 1600–10
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.
A queen bee reaches maturity in about 16 days, while worker bees require roughly 21 days.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
Now we’re on Vegas World; now we’re on Jurassic Planet; now we’re on a planet ruled by a gigantic queen bee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
"The queen bee gave me a blank stare and said: 'You've ruined my night.'"
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2026
Every actor oozed Main Character Energy, but the plot fully revolved around Silverstone’s Cher, the effervescent queen bee of Beverly Hills.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2025
On the third night after hearing the broadcast—Thursday—Werner stands in the hexagonal bathtub beneath the queen bee.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
