adjective
-
resembling or appropriate to a queen
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Buzzwords for National Honey Bee Day
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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
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
“You get knots, right?” could hardly be a tinier change, but many such changes, over many, many hours, smooth her annoyingly ellipsis-crowded writing into a natural, intimate spoken narrative — if always a queenly one.
From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2024
High and flinty, with a bone-deep coal-country drawl that refused to fade even as she ascended to a queenly position in the Nashville star system, her singing sliced through polished arrangements like a sharpened blade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2022
“You’re the Queen of Water! You’re representing this organization! It’s your queenly duty, chica!”
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
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
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
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
And then I heard—ah! ne'er was known Such judgment without malice, Nor queenlier council ever heard In senate, house or palace!—
From Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 1, January 5, 1884. A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside by Various
The world is old, It hath sent here none queenlier.
From A Lover's Diary, Volume 2. by Gilbert Parker
Look at these ancient States, the queenliest queens of earth.
From Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 3 (of 3) by Theodore Parker
"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
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
Love first chose, Then prayed—"No, lily-white—or, both provide;" And Flora gave the lotus, "rose-red" dyed, And "lily-white"—the queenliest flower that blows.
From Hindu literature : Comprising The Book of good counsels, Nala and Damayanti, The Ramayana, and Sakoontala by Sir Edwin Arnold
"I am a good prophet," he assured her, and now he let the suppressed merriment dance at will in his pupils, "but don't forget that a queen's queenliest necessity is—kindness."
From Destiny by Charles Neville Buck
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.
