royalty

noun

roy·​al·​ty ˈrȯi(-ə)l-tē 

plural royalties

1

a

: royal status or power : sovereignty

b

: a right or perquisite of a sovereign (such as a percentage paid to the crown of gold or silver taken from mines)

2

: regal character or bearing : nobility

3

a

: persons of royal lineage

dined with royalty

On our wedding day, we were treated like royalty.

b

: a person of royal rank

… how to address royalties …

—George Santayana

c

: an elite class

4

: a right of jurisdiction granted to an individual or corporation by a sovereign

5

a

: a share of the product or profit reserved by the grantor especially of an oil or mining lease

b

: a payment to an author or composer for each copy of a work sold or to an inventor for each item sold under a patent

Synonyms of royalty

• majesty
• nobility
• dignity

Examples of royalty in a Sentence

It was an honor and a privilege to dine with royalty.

On our wedding day, we were treated like royalty.

Recent Examples on the Web

Recess royalty was determined by your Skip-It count, and the satisfying click-click-click of the counter on your ankle was its own kind of music. —Ryan Brennan march 20, Miami Herald, 20 Mar. 2026

By long-term standards, every middle-class American lives the life of royalty. —Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 20 Mar. 2026

Smith earned millions of dollars from his fraudulent streams, siphoning off royalties from the legitimate artists in the royalty pool. —Ethan Millman, HollywoodReporter, 19 Mar. 2026

With four more wins, a superb player will morph into Arizona royalty and 25 years of frustration will melt away. —Jon Wilner, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English roialte, from Anglo-French realté, roialté, from real

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for royalty

• loyalty
• disloyalty
• viceroyalty

Kids Definition

royalty

noun

roy·​al·​ty ˈrȯi(-ə)l-tē 

plural royalties

1

: royal status or power

2

: royal character or conduct

3

: members of a royal family

4

a

: a share of a product or profit (as of a mine) claimed by the owner for allowing another to use the property

b

: a payment made to the owner of a patent or copyright for the use of it

Legal Definition

royalty

noun

roy·​al·​ty

plural royalties

1

: a right delegated (as to an individual or corporation) by a sovereign

2

a

: a share of the profit or product reserved by the grantor especially of an oil or mineral lease compare overriding royalty

b

: a payment made to an author or composer for each copy of a work sold or to an inventor for each article sold under a patent