drag queen

noun

plural drag queens

: a person and especially a man who performs as an entertainer in usually female drag (see drag entry 3 sense 2a)

Drag queens, who are traditionally male, dress in "drag" as female characters.

—Lauren Wavra

For the past decade, (basically since RuPaul started Drag Race) traditional drag queens (ie, cis men performing as female characters) have been blowing up in the popular zeitgeist …

—Brittany Knupper

Drag is not simply female impersonation, but involves drag queens exaggerating femininity and drag kings exaggerating masculinity.

—Shannon Kelly

[Victoria] Sin is a female-bodied non-binary drag queen, examining how Western ideals of femininity are produced and consumed.

—Amrou Al-Kadhi

They are a black, non-binary drag queen with a beard in a part of the country that has a reputation for being anti-LGBTQ+.

—Bailey Shelton

Examples of drag queen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Plenty of drag queens can sing, and plenty of drag queens who can’t sing have released songs anyway. —Joe Lynch, Billboard, 5 Nov. 2025

Drevet will be joined by Lisa Rinna and various drag queens. —Leigh Nordstrom, Footwear News, 31 Oct. 2025

Last summer, RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars aired its first and only season, featuring one drag queen from 12 of the varying global Drag Race installments. —Mckinley Franklin, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2025

In the show’s first season, for instance, drag superstar Trixie Mattel plays a less famous drag queen named Shazam whom Evan brings in to teach the football team about what is and is not appropriate when doing female impersonations for its powder-puff routine. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1941, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for drag queen

• acrolein
• adenine
• alkylene
• aniline
• anthracene
• aquiline
• asphaltene
• atlantean
• atrazine
• butadiene
• butylene
• caesarean