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:
People name their children after her and tattoo their skin with her likeness: a queenly woman surrounded by sunbeams, her head bowed in prayer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2025
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
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
“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
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
No dream is mine that does thee less than right: Albeit thy words be wild as warring waves, I know thee higher of heart than shame could smite And queenlier than thy queenship.
From Locrine: a tragedy by Swinburne, Algernon Charles
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 Meredith, George
"Better wait until they get their crowns on," suggested Kitty, "they'll look a heap queenlier then."
From Marjorie's Maytime by Wells, Carolyn
The opening notes of a festival To jubilate the reign of the summer Beauteous, queenliest, rosy-robed comer.
From The Dales of Arcady by Ratcliffe, Dorothy Una
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 Arnold, Edwin, Sir
Come, let the burial rite be read—the funeral song 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 English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald
Eaux Bonnes and Cauterets are close rivals, but Luchon is the queenliest of the triplet.
From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Dix, Edwin Asa
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 Garland, Hamlin
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.
