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

Where queerness was not demonized, as some of the models were drag queens? —Bryan Barcena, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2026

On Washington Avenue, the H & M Stein Deli and Kosher Restaurant is next to the Tijuana Cat, a Cuban club for transvestites and gays that features a drag queen contest at midnight. —Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026

In January, Patagonia sued drag queen Pattie Gonia in a California federal court, claiming trademark infringement and seeking $1 in damages. —Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 23 Feb. 2026

The ceremony was projected onto building walls, and the drag queen Pabllo Vittar interrupted his concert to show Salles’s acceptance speech. —Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2026

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