lordful

L1O1R1D2F4U1L1

adjective

Having the manner or bearing of a lord; lordly; (by extension) authoritative; authoritarian; overbearing; bossy

Scrabble 11

Meanings

adjectivelordful (comparative more lordful, superlative most lordful)

comparative more lordful · superlative most lordful

  1. Having the manner or bearing of a lord; lordly; (by extension) authoritative; authoritarian; overbearing; bossy

    The only thing he ever did wrong was his goodness and his not very faithful wife; his fat and 'lordful' wife who always wore a frown whenever someone visited them.

    2009, Liwhu Betiang, Beneath the rubble: fiction - Page 74
    2 more examples

    Actually such lessons occur in service of an older hierarchical form of love whereby men are still seen as lords and masters of their households and wives and children are seen as subservient and subordinate creatures. Eliot and Joyce are obviously critical of the demeaning and damaging implications of such love and want their readers to agree with them. But Steinbeck is intrigued by the lordful view; he wants to shock his readers into accepting the supposed wisdom of the older hierarchical arrangements, and even to accept their violent implications.

    1997, Mark Spilka, Eight Lessons in Love: A Domestic Violence Reader - Page 2

    Some wives can't breathe loudly without facing the wrath of their dictator-husband. Some husbands are too lordful over their wives and make them feel incarcerated in their marriage.

    2015, Daniel G. McCrillis, Th. D., Biblical Psychology: A Biblical Hand-book to the Human Mind

Origin

  1. Middle Englishlordfulle
  2. Englishlordful

From Middle English lordfulle, equivalent to lord + -ful.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

lordful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lordful

MLA

“lordful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lordful. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lordful,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lordful.

Source: lordful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.