stately
Americanadjective
-
majestic; imposing in magnificence, elegance, etc..
a stately home.
adverb
adjective
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of stately
First recorded in 1350–1400, stately is from the Middle English word statly. See state, -ly
Explanation
To be stately is to appear noble and impressive, almost in a larger than life kind of way. You may encounter a stately gentleman or a stately statue. If you do, take a little bow. There are a few meanings of stately, but they both refer to people and things that have an impressive bearing. The first meaning has to do with nobility and class. A ceremony honoring a prince is stately, and the music and dress surrounding such events are stately. Stately things convey sophistication and regality. Also, stately can mean statuesque. Someone with great posture and an impressive physique is stately, almost as if they were made by a sculptor.
Vocabulary lists containing stately
"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
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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:
It was first introduced as an ornamental garden plant used primarily in large stately homes, but it subsequently escaped into the wider countryside.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
After the deaths of their parents, the aging bluebloods holed up in their stately Harlem rowhouse, once a picture of Gilded Age polish, and became a public curiosity.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
The stately, 9,694-square-foot residence overlooks the 17th fairway of The Governors Club golf course.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
From the hospitality group behind the unapologetically glamorous Lafayette in San Diego’s North Park, Baby Grand is ready to make a splash in stately Coronado.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
There was a din of crickets outside, and the pauseless roar of the river, and the stately world was illumined with pearly moonlight; but inside the log it was dark and hushed, like a crypt.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
Frenzied Afro-Cuban dancing mixes with statelier Mexican danzón; one set piece is illuminated by a flashing neon sign, and another puts Mercedes and her sister in a museum, surrounded by pre-Columbian artifacts.
From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2019
In a statelier time and series, Cyrus would have been played by Jeremy Irons, but here the honor goes to Jake Maskall, who does what he can.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2015
The pace of their music becomes statelier, the lyrics more universal, the production glossier.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 14, 2011
He put them on the runway at the Jeu de Paume — a contemporary art museum and one of this city’s statelier locations for a fashion show.
From Washington Post
Then comes the statelier Eden back to men: Then reign the world’s great bridals, chaste and calm: Then springs the crowning race of humankind.”
From The Hearth-Stone Thoughts upon Home-Life in Our Cities by Osgood, Samuel
It supplanted some of the city’s stateliest mansions with corporate palaces in blue glass and bronze.
From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2020
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, called the result “the stateliest measure ever moulded by the lips of man.”
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 8, 2018
Indian Village is an historic development just to the west of the neighborhood, and it includes some of the largest, stateliest residences in the city.
From BusinessWeek ● Sep. 2, 2014
“The monument is appalling—in bad taste and in a very strategic position,” on Mexico City's stateliest avenue, near statues of Gandhi and Winston Churchill.
From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2013
The sweetest lines in Shakespeare deal with love; the stateliest lines, Hamlet's and Macbeth's, are upon death.
From The Critical Game by Macy, John Albert
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.
