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
: one who is effeminate
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
Pamela Vázquez, Glamour, 2 Feb. 2026
Catherine was the queen of self-abusing, hard-living, and heading-over-the-hill entertainment veterans — women who were trapped behind a façade of slick showbiz tics that barely covered the active volcano of psychosis bubbling right under their surface.
—Merrill Markoe, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2026
Jillian Sederholm, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Jan. 2026
The haul — which includes jewels tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Empress Eugénie and 19th century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense — still hasn’t been recovered.
—Angela Yang, NBC news, 14 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for queen
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
The queen of maximalist beauty also once again demonstrated her expertise in the makeup and hair space by playing with her copper-red locks, debuting curly bangs and mermaid braids among her soft waves.
—Pamela Vázquez, Glamour, 2 Feb. 2026
Catherine was the queen of self-abusing, hard-living, and heading-over-the-hill entertainment veterans — women who were trapped behind a façade of slick showbiz tics that barely covered the active volcano of psychosis bubbling right under their surface.
—Merrill Markoe, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2026
Verb
Drag Race queens Symone, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Latrice Royale, and Monét X Change all have significant roles.
—Jillian Sederholm, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Jan. 2026
The haul — which includes jewels tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Empress Eugénie and 19th century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense — still hasn’t been recovered.
—Angela Yang, NBC news, 14 Dec. 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 3 Feb. 2026.
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"
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
