Meanings
- not comparableWithout a king.
Indeed, Graber, a former software engineer, seems most energized when she’s talking about the unique infrastructure for her kingless world.
2025 May 19, Kate Knibbs, “Bluesky Is Plotting a Total Takeover of the Social Internet”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 19 May 20252 more examples
1892, Alfred Tennyson, The Foresters, Act IV, Scene 1, in The Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, edited by William J. Rolfe, Boston: Dana Estes & Co., 1892, p. 139, https://archive.org/details/workstennyson12tenn I have been away from England all these years, / Heading the holy war against the Moslem, / While thou and others in our kingless realms / Were fighting underhand unholy wars / Against your lawful King.
Now that Charles I had been beheaded, Cromwell wanted a guarantee from the States General not only that they would never countenance any kind of support for a Stuart restoration in England, but also that no Prince of Orange (married into the British dynasty) would ever again become Stadholder and thus be in a position to threaten a kingless Britain.
1999, Simon Schama, Rembrandt's Eyes, New York: Knopf, Part Five, Chapter 11, p. 566
Origin
- Middle Englishkingles
- Englishkingless
Inherited from Middle English kingles; by surface analysis, king + -less.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Greek αβασίλευτος
- αβασίλευτος (avasíleftos)without a king
Swedish kungalös
- kungalöswithout a king
Cite this entry
kingless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kingless
“kingless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kingless. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kingless,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kingless.
Source: kingless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.