queenly

Q10U1E1E1N1L1Y4
/ˈkwiːnli/

adjective

Having the status, rank or qualities of a queen; regal.

RareScrabble 19

Meanings

queenly1

adjectivequeenly (comparative queenlier, superlative queenliest)

comparative queenlier · superlative queenliest

  1. Having the status, rank or qualities of a queen; regal.

    I'm so sorry. If I'd done my queenly duties right, none of this would have happened. But maybe I can fix it with some wish help.

    2018, Queen True, “A Royal Stink”, in True and the Rainbow Kingdom
    2 more examples

    So Maggie, glad of anything that would soothe her mother, and cheer their long day together, consented to the vain decoration, and showed a queenly head above her old frocks, steadily refusing, however, to look at herself in the glass.

    1860, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], The Mill on the Floss […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC

    There was an innate refinement, a languid queenly hauteur about Gerty which was unmistakably evidenced in her delicate hands and higharched instep.

    1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
  2. Resembling a queen (a typically feminine gay man); queenish.
    1 more example

    The Pet Shop Boys are yet another synth-pop duo, albeit one that is not quite out of the closet. […] In past interviews, however, they [the Pet Shop Boys] have referred to their sound as "specifically gay disco," and their lyrics have that certain queenly something that lead singer Neil Tennant sings with an adorable sibilance.

    1990 December 23, Christopher Wittke, “Pop Goes 1990”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 23, page 9

queenly2

adverbqueenly (comparative queenlier, superlative queenliest)

comparative queenlier · superlative queenliest

  1. In a queenly manner; regally.

    Synonyms: queenlily, reginally

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbIn a queenly manner; regally.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivehaving the rank of or resembling or befitting a queen

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

queenly · adjective

  1. Old Englishcwēnlīċ
  2. Middle Englishqueenly
  3. Englishqueenly

From Middle English queenly, quenly, from Old English cwēnlīċ, equivalent to queen + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →

queenly · adverb

  1. Englishqueen
  2. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  3. Proto-Germanic*līką
  4. Englishqueenly

From queen + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

queenly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/queenly

MLA

“queenly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/queenly. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “queenly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/queenly.

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