plural queens
1
a
: the wife or widow of a king
b
: the wife or widow of a tribal chief
2
a
: a female monarch
b
: a female chieftain
3
a
: a woman eminent in rank, power, or attractions
a movie queen
b
: a goddess or a thing personified as female and having supremacy in a specified realm
c
: an attractive girl or woman
especially
: a beauty contest winner
4
: the most privileged piece of each color in a set of chessmen having the power to move in any direction across any number of unoccupied squares
5
: a playing card marked with a stylized figure of a queen
6
: the fertile fully developed female of social bees, wasps, ants, and termites whose function is to lay eggs
7
: a mature female cat kept especially for breeding
8
slang, often disparaging
: a gay man
especially
: an effeminate one
9
queened; queening; queens
1
: to act like a queen
especially
: to put on airs
—usually used with it
queens it over her friends
2
: to become a queen in chess
the pawn queens
: to promote (a pawn) to a queen in chess
Examples of queen in a Sentence
Noun
She was crowned queen of England.
the reign of Queen Elizabeth
the king and his queen
the queen of the blues
She was voted queen of the prom.
This ship is the queen of all the ocean liners.
Recent Examples on the Web
Ben Smith, semafor.com, 29 Sep. 2025
This is the first opportunity that a queen from RuPaul’s Drag Race gets to go and showcase the work, and not just be a talking head anymore, but to actually showcase what a queen can do.
—Mckinley Franklin, HollywoodReporter, 27 Sep. 2025
Okla Jones, Essence, 22 Sep. 2025
The pair then queen out from different parts of the house.
—Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 22 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for queen
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Noun
Britain, though, has real kings and queens.
—Ben Smith, semafor.com, 29 Sep. 2025
This is the first opportunity that a queen from RuPaul’s Drag Race gets to go and showcase the work, and not just be a talking head anymore, but to actually showcase what a queen can do.
—Mckinley Franklin, HollywoodReporter, 27 Sep. 2025
Verb
On the world stage, Team USA sprint queens Sha’Carri Richardson, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Twanisha Terry, and Kayla White brought home gold in Tokyo, while Naomi Campbell owned the runway in London during Fashion Week.
—Okla Jones, Essence, 22 Sep. 2025
The pair then queen out from different parts of the house.
—Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 22 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for queen
Cite this Entry
“Queen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/queen. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
queen
1 of 2 noun1
: the wife or widow of a king
2
: a woman who rules a kingdom in her own right
3
a
: a woman of supreme rank, power, or attractiveness
a society queen
b
: something thought of as female and being at the top in a particular field
queen of the ocean liners
4
: the most powerful piece in the game of chess
5
: a playing card bearing the figure of a queen
6
: the fertile fully developed female of social bees, ants, and termites whose purpose is to lay eggs
queen
2 of 2 verb1
: to act like a queen
especially
: put on airs
2
: to become or promote to a queen in chess
Etymology
Noun
Old English cwēn "woman, wife, queen"
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