royalty
Americannoun
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royalties
plural
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royal persons collectively.
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royal status, dignity, or power; sovereignty.
to be elevated to royalty.
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a person of royal lineage; member of a royal family.
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Archaic. royalties, prerogatives, rights, or symbolic emblems of a king, queen, or other sovereign.
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a royal domain; kingdom; realm.
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character or quality proper to or befitting a sovereign; nobility.
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the most well-known and admired member or members of a particular field or category.
Her parents are Hollywood royalty. The brand is royalty among champagnes.
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a compensation or portion of the proceeds paid to the owner of a right, as a patent or oil or mineral right, for the use of it.
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an agreed portion of the income from a work paid to its author, composer, etc., usually a percentage of the retail price of each copy sold.
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a royal right, as over minerals, granted by a sovereign to a person or corporation.
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the payment made for such a right.
noun
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the rank, power, or position of a king or queen
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royal persons collectively
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one who belongs to the royal family
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any quality characteristic of a monarch; kingliness or regal dignity
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a percentage of the revenue from the sale of a book, performance of a theatrical work, use of a patented invention or of land, etc, paid to the author, inventor, or proprietor
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of royalty
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English roialte, from Middle French, Old French roialté, derivative of roial; see origin at royal, -ty 2
Explanation
Royalty is a good word for describing a family of kings, queens, princes, and princesses. If you are in the music business, you may expect a payment, or royalty every time your song is played. How's that for royal treatment? The noun royalty means a group of royals, or kings and their extended families. Queen Elizabeth of England is a member of Britain's royalty, for example. You can also use royalty to describe the payment a writer receives whenever her book is sold, or that a musician gets when his song is played in a grocery store. The word comes from the Latin regalis, "regal," which in turn comes from rex, "king."
Vocabulary lists containing royalty
Economics
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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Frindle
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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:
But with such footballing royalty back in the big time, where can you find Europe's current sleeping giants?
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
On Friday night at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, there was a gathering of coaching royalty on the Hart sideline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
This is a guy from football royalty who has shrewdly spent his college career trying to say nothing interesting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
He was also involved in radio coverage of the country's Premier Soccer League and later became an advocate for musicians' rights and royalty payments.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Back in Kunu Yaku, Antonio told me I walked like royalty, like a princess in disguise.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
The site employs local contractors and businesses and pays royalties to over 3,000 people who own mineral rights, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Benzies set up Barb in 2016 - the same year he left Grand Theft Auto maker Rockstar Games after a legal row over unpaid royalties.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
In addition, the agreement provides for low single-digit royalties on future product sales.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Only Ross Cameron, co-founder of Lyric Capital Group, a private equity firm focused on music royalties, housed on four, responded.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
The royalties would have run into the millions.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
