adjective
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resembling or appropriate to a queen
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having the rank of queen
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of queenly
Explanation
If you have a queenly manner, you carry yourself like a queen (or maybe you are one!). Queenly things are fit for a queen, like that tiara you wear on special occasions. You could also call queenly things (or people) regal or aristocratic. Someone who walks with a queenly bearing holds herself proudly, with excellent posture. And if you go on a queenly vacation, it's pretty luxurious and fancy. The words queenly and queen come from an Old English root, cwen, which means both "female ruler of a state," but also simply "wife."
Vocabulary lists containing queenly
Scrabble: Words that Begin with Q
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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:
Ms. McQueen is splendid, Mr. Bean elevates the entire production and Connie Nielsen is an imperious Eleanor of Aquitaine, a woman with her own queenly agendas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
So I tried to be as queenly as possible, coming from one queen to see some more queens tonight.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2025
Then she tosses the cake in the garbage bag on the housekeeping trolley with a queenly flourish, all without breaking her stride to the elevator.
From Salon ● May 7, 2024
In an atmosphere of lavish pomp and royal luxury, the queenly Sugar Plum Fairy presides over choreographed tributes by different groups of leaping, frolicking, food-bearing “ambassadors.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 25, 2022
Faramir had sent for this robe and had wrapped it about her; and he thought that she looked fair and queenly indeed as she stood there at his side.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
They may even be queenlier now than they were in 2020; at times I thought they seemed over-primed by the time off.
From New York Times ● Oct. 3, 2021
Can the world afford him no worthier bride— No bride with a queenlier grace?
From The Path of Dreams Poems by Leigh Gordon Giltner
She drew herself up like a queen, but only that she might look queenlier for his sake, and, bending, kissed his brow, and whispered back his vows.
From A Mountain Woman by Elia Wilkinson Peattie
Rounder, and queenlier, and more fair Her form grew, and her golden hair Fell yearly richer at the master's side.
From Among the Millet and Other Poems by Archibald Lampman
His tales of her declare she condescends; Can share his fires, not always goads and rends: Moreover, quits a throne, and must enclose A queenlier gem than woman's wayside rose.
From Poems — Volume 3 by George Meredith
Eaux Bonnes and Cauterets are close rivals, but Luchon is the queenliest of the triplet.
From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Edwin Asa Dix
Thou wast queenlier far Than the queenliest flower, More glorious than a star In a fairy bower.
From Lays of Ancient Virginia, and Other Poems by James Avis Bartley
Could Music rescue thus from Soul's profound, Give feeling immortality by sound,436 Then were she queenliest of Arts!
From Browning's England A Study in English Influences in Browning by Helen Archibald Clarke
"Then let the funeral bells be tolled, a requiem be sung, An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young; A dirge for her—the doubly dead, in that she died so young."
From Guy Livingstone; or, 'Thorough' by George A. (George Alfred) Lawrence
It was filled to overflowing with the youth of the neighborhood, and Agnes Farwell, Joe's niece, the queenliest of them all, was leading the dance, her dark face aglow, her deep brown eyes alight.
From A Son of the Middle Border by Hamlin Garland
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
