throne
Americannoun
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thrones
plural
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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
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Example Sentences
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See Examples For:
After Duncan is dead, Macbeth worries that his friend Banquo’s line will end up on the throne.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
“Walls will begin to whisper throughout. You get to take Paul’s throne and see the desert come alive around you. Guests may even find out if they have what it takes to ride a sandworm.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
Pope Leo XIV, who ascended to the throne of St. Peter last year, has already made six overseas trips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● 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
White and red marble columns lined the throne room.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
While Price and his colleagues go to take advantage of the open bar, I chat with New York State Young Democrats chief of staff Avi Presberg, 28, upon the restaurant’s lion-headed thrones.
From Slate ● Oct. 20, 2026
The ceremony then culminated with Mullally being seated in two different thrones.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
The objects, which include richly embroidered vestments and lavishly sculpted monstrances, Eucharist thrones and sanctuary lamps made of jewel-studded precious metals, are eye-catchingly high Baroque.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
Two thrones also used for props are up for sale.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2025
And where the circle of thrones had once surrounded them, now something else did: five gigantic statues.
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
Behind the desk, in the chair, Franz Rosenzweig was throned.
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
How low when angels fall their black descent, Our primal thunder tells: known is the pain Of music, that nigh throning wisdom went, And one false note cast wailful to the insane.
From Poems — Volume 1 by George Meredith
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
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 Edgar Saltus
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 Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin) Griffith
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 Hamilton Wright Mabie
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