throne
Americannoun
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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.
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the office or dignity of a sovereign.
He came to the throne by succession.
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the occupant of a throne; sovereign.
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sovereign power or authority.
to address one's pleas to the throne.
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an episcopal office or authority.
the diocesan throne.
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thrones, an order of angels.
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Facetious. a toilet.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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the ceremonial seat occupied by a monarch, bishop, etc on occasions of state
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the power, duties, or rank ascribed to a royal person
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a person holding royal rank
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(plural; often capital) the third of the nine orders into which the angels are traditionally divided in medieval angelology
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of throne
1175–1225; Middle English < Latin thronus < Greek thrónos high seat; replacing Middle English trone < Old French < Latin, as above
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.
Vocabulary lists containing throne
"The Lotus Seed"
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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:
An Asahi Shimbun poll in May also showed 72 percent of respondents in favour of changing the rules to allow women to ascend the throne.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
The king of dinosaurs has reclaimed his throne.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
But now his physical resilience was under the spotlight - and the early signs at Wimbledon offered encouragement to those eyeing his throne.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
The monarch of American music had successfully reclaimed his throne.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
The Palace of Sargon II above Nineveh covered 25 acres and included more than 200 rooms and courtyards, including a brilliantly painted throne room, harem, service quarters, and guard room.
From "The Annotated Mona Lisa" by Carol Strickland and John Boswell
The ceremony then culminated with Mullally being seated in two different thrones.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
On Friday Netflix aced out Paramount Skydance and Comcast to win this game of media thrones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
Foo Fighters fired its new drummer Josh Freese this year, just two years into his tenure behind one of the most coveted thrones in rock following the death of Taylor Hawkins in 2022.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2025
Farther up, another channel, ABP, turned for the second straight night to a program that made its intentions abundantly clear: “Who Will Become Prime Minister?” read the poster for the show, decorated with red thrones.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
And, at the far end of the shed, Billy saw pink arches with azure draperies hanging between them, and an enormous clock, and two golden thrones, and a bucket and a mop.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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
They have commanded knights and serfs, taken walled towns and sat throned among their armies.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
A kingdom where kings are throned and dethroned daily.
From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds
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 Leighton, Robert
According to the ethics of the day, he was a model citizen, whereas Antony throning as Osiris with a female Mithridates for consort, was as oblivious of Roman dignity as of conjugal faith.
From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Saltus, Edgar
Frederic, though great in royal throning, Well may amaze the earth, and heaven, When clothed by thunder and the levin Swerves he before the hero's fanfare.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 4 by Mabie, Hamilton Wright
My banishment to-day will free Kaikeyí from her cares, that she, At last contented and elate, May Bharat's throning celebrate.
From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Griffith, Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin)
On every side, where'er he came, He heard glad words, their theme the same, As in their joy the gathered folk Of Ráma and the throning spoke.
From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Griffith, Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin)
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.
