emperor
Americannoun
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the male sovereign or supreme ruler of an empire.
the emperors of Rome.
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Chiefly British. a size of drawing or writing paper, 48 × 72 inches (122 × 183 centimeters).
noun
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a monarch who rules or reigns over an empire
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Also called: emperor moth. any of several large saturniid moths with eyelike markings on each wing, esp Saturnia pavonia of Europe See also giant peacock moth
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See purple emperor
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of emperor
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English empero(u)r, (from Anglo-French; Old French empereor, from Latin imperātor, originally, “one who gives orders, ruler,” equivalent to imperā(re) “to order, command” ( im- “in” + -perāre, combining form of parāre “to provide, get ready” ) + -tor noun suffix of agency; see im- 1, prepare, -tor
Compare meaning
How does emperor compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Forget prime ministers, presidents or even kings or queens: an emperor was the biggest, baddest ruler of them all — the leader of undisputed power who controlled a nation or, more usually, a number of subjugated nations known collectively as an empire. Nowadays the emperor is no more, replaced by humbler and usually more democratic leaders, but the notion of an all-conquering larger-than-life figure lives on in the way we give the prefix emperor to particularly magnificent specimens of living things: the Emperor Butterfly, Emperor Moth and Emperor Penguin, most famously. The Roman emperors would be proud.
Vocabulary lists containing emperor
Ancient Rome - Introductory
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Aztec, Maya, and Inca Empires - Introductory
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"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:
Jesus was not being clever when he said in Matthew 22:21 “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
In a June survey conducted by newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, involving more than 2,000 participants, more than 70% of respondents said they supported having a female emperor.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Seiichiro Murakami, a veteran of the conservative LDP, said after the bill passed the lower house on July 10 that it was "utterly outrageous" to rule out Aiko becoming emperor.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Instead, Lawrence presented the emperor with the city’s poor and maligned, insisting that he confront the oppression he had forced on them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
“It would never have lit the night like the one the emperor keeps asking for.”
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
For centuries, a shimmering golden fabric known as sea silk was one of the world's most exclusive luxury materials, reserved for emperors, popes, and other powerful figures.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 12, 2026
It wasn’t just the ancient Greeks and the American founders who favored classical forms; Roman emperors and the Nazis did too.
From Slate ● May 18, 2026
But that changed after archaeometry expert Professor Ernst Pernicka concluded there was "no doubt whatsoever" the statue came from Bubon, where an imperial shrine housed bronze sculptures of Roman emperors.
From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026
A cycle of ephemeral emperors, military mutinies and civil wars had begun, marring Rome’s third century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Wishing, therefore, to reply to these objections, I shall discuss the characteristics of several emperors, showing the reasons for their downfall, which are not different from those that I myself have already presented.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
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.
