royalty

noun roy·al·ty \ ˈrȯi(-ə)l-tē \

Updated on: 8 Apr 2018

Definition of royalty

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

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

See royalty defined for English-language learners

See royalty defined for kids

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 of royalty from the Web

There is no shortage of concerts and festivals featuring hip-hop royalty such as Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg.

— christopher muther, BostonGlobe.com, "Stop and smell the holiday as 420 celebrations grow around the US," 5 Apr. 2018
In mid-April, indie-rock royalty will invade the city when Built to Spill, Afghan Whigs and Guided By Voices perform.

— justin jacobs, Indianapolis Star, "‘Eva’ premiere, Brett Eldredge show among top things to do in Indianapolis this April," 4 Apr. 2018
If record labels were to demand higher royalties, that would increase its costs.

— The Economist, "Spotify makes its stockmarket debut," 4 Apr. 2018
Losses have grown in each of the last three years, reaching about $1.5 billion in 2017, due in large part to the royalties paid to music rights holders.

— bloomberg, latimes.com, "Spotify's non-IPO: The company wanted a calm stock-market debut, and that's what it got," 3 Apr. 2018
Sambora will donate the royalties from the sales of Richie Sambora Elite Double Neck Series guitars to Notes for Notes.

— chuck yarborough, cleveland.com, "Richie Sambora, Orianthi set to highlight Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Celebration Day," 2 Apr. 2018
The 3-year-old Alliance for Open Media said the new open-source, royalty-free format, named AV1, is designed to be a new foundation of online video streaming.

— benny evangelista, San Francisco Chronicle, "Big tech companies jointly launch royalty-free 4K UHD video standard," 28 Mar. 2018
In 2016, Korman tried for the second time to sue Iglesias over the song for 33 percent of the royalties, and was not successful.

— howard cohen and arturo arias-polo, miamiherald, "She says she helped write a Julio Iglesias hit 40 years ago. Now, she wants her money. | Miami Herald," 27 Mar. 2018
Australia and Indonesia shared the royalties piped from that disputed seabed.

— edith m. lederer and rob mcguirk, The Christian Science Monitor, "Australia and East Timor reach historic international agreement," 7 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'royalty.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of royalty

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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

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royalty Synonyms

Synonyms

aristocracy, best, choice, cream, crème de la crème, elect, elite, fat, flower, pick, pride, prime, upper crust;

Near Antonyms

commoners, herd, hoi polloi, masses, millions, mob, multitude, rank and file, unwashed;

Phrases

cream of the crop, Hall of Fame;

ROYALTY Defined for English Language Learners

royalty

noun

Definition of royalty for English Language Learners

: members of a royal family
: an amount of money that is paid to the original creator of a product, book, or piece of music based on how many copies have been sold
: an amount of money that is paid by a mining or oil company to the owner of the land the company is using