throne

American  

[throhn] / θroʊn /

noun

• thrones
  plural

1. the chair or seat occupied by a sovereign, bishop, or other exalted personage on ceremonial occasions, usually raised on a dais and covered with a canopy.

2. the office or dignity of a sovereign.

   He came to the throne by succession.

3. the occupant of a throne; sovereign.

4. sovereign power or authority.

   to address one's pleas to the throne.

5. an episcopal office or authority.

   the diocesan throne.

6. mourners' bench.

7. thrones, an order of angels.

8. Facetious. a toilet.

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verb (used with or without object)

throned, throning

1. to sit on or as on a throne.

throne British  

/ θrəʊn /

noun

1. the ceremonial seat occupied by a monarch, bishop, etc on occasions of state

2. the power, duties, or rank ascribed to a royal person

3. a person holding royal rank

4. (plural; often capital) the third of the nine orders into which the angels are traditionally divided in medieval angelology

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verb

1. to place or be placed on a throne

throne Idioms  

1. see power behind the throne.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• throneless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• thrones
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of throne

1175–1225; Middle English < Latin thronus < Greek thrónos high seat; replacing Middle English trone < Old French < Latin, as above

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Explanation

The oversized, bejeweled chair on which a king or queen sits is called a throne. Monarchs — kings and queens — sit on thrones on special ceremonial occasions, and so do religious figures such as bishops and popes. You can also describe the act of naming a new monarch this way: "Queen Elizabeth II of England was throned in 1952." The word throne has its root in the Greek thronos, "chair or elevated seat." In ancient Greek mythology, Zeus was said to sit on a special heavenly seat, the Dios thronous.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

throne thrones throned throning

Some will feature hidden messages within ancient carvings, while others will emphasize photo opportunities with Paul Atreides’ throne, allowing guests to attempt their best Timothée Chalamet impression.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026

For many Ugandans, he was known not as the heir to the throne, but as a storyteller, as a long-serving anchor and editor at the state broadcaster.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

The Orange Order is an pro-British organisation that takes its name from William of Orange, the Protestant Dutchman who seized the English, Scottish and Ireland throne from Catholic King James II in 1689.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

In the first panel, Edward the Confessor inclines forward on the throne of England, as though about to slip off.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

I gulped and turned to the statue on the throne.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

We enter the blacked-out gallery via a lobby lined with 10 tall screens that show autumnal woods and outline the game of thrones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

The ceremony then culminated with Mullally being seated in two different thrones.

From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026

Warner Bros.’ sale has become the industry’s game of thrones.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025

Two thrones also used for props are up for sale.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2025

“Why are some of the thrones only half there?”

From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi

A hoarder of women, art, antiquities — and most of all, money — Getty also might have taken issue with Portia’s claim that mercy “becomes the throned monarch better than his crown.”

From New York Times ● Dec. 24, 2017

So Blatter is seeking to be throned for another four years as Fifa big cheese at the elections to be held in June.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 22, 2011

The spectacle of John L. Lewis on Organized Labor's pinnacle, throned on Coal and crowned with Steel, is not fantastic.

From Time Magazine Archive

They have commanded knights and serfs, taken walled towns and sat throned among their armies.

From Time Magazine Archive

A kingdom where kings are throned and dethroned daily.

From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds

In our passage through life we meet scarcely any who do not persist, with a kind of unreasoning obstinacy, in throning the material within them, and there maintaining it supreme.

From The Buried Temple by Alfred Sutro

Don Enrique, returning, told me of it in his room at night, of the Christian service in the mosque and the throning in the Alhambra.

From 1492 by Mary Johnston

Above their heads the trees met in a brown-and-purple tracery of boughs, and on their right, through the branches, they saw a pale full moon, throning it in a silver sky.

From The Testing of Diana Mallory by Mrs. Humphry Ward

Now little Ronald Campbell was the same who had picked up Earl Kenric's gauntlet on the day of his throning on the Great Plain.

From The Thirsty Sword by Robert Leighton

The king and queen, my lady dear, Touching the throning, for my sake Some salutary counsel take.

From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin) Griffith

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