Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having the status or rank of king.
  • adjective Of, like, or befitting a king; majestic and regal.
  • adverb In a royal way; royally.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to a king or kings; royal.
  • Of regal character or quality; king-like; exalted.
  • Synonyms Regal, etc. See royal.
  • In the manner of a king; royally.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In a kingly or kinglike manner.
  • adjective Belonging to, suitable to, or becoming, a king; characteristic of, or resembling, a king; directed or administered by a king; monarchical; royal; sovereign; regal; august; noble; grand.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Majestic and regal.
  • adverb In a royal manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having the rank of or resembling or befitting a king

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English kyngly, from Old English *cyninglīċ ("kingly, royal"), equivalent to king +‎ -ly. Cognate with Dutch koninklijk ("kingly, royal"), German königlich ("kingly"), Swedish kunglig ("kingly"). Compare also Old English cynelīċ ("kingly, royal, public").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English kyngly, from Old English *cyninglīċe ("kingly, royally"), equivalent to king +‎ -ly. Compare Old English cynelīċe ("kingly, royally, publicly").

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Examples

  • Then the king kept silence and looked at the ground, and at length said to him in kingly fashion: "Behold, oh bishop, the poor people of this land are brought to shame, and I would rather fall in battle so that my people can continued to possess their land."

    Time To Ditch St. George 2008

  • Then the king kept silence and looked at the ground, and at length said to him in kingly fashion: "Behold, oh bishop, the poor people of this land are brought to shame, and I would rather fall in battle so that my people can continued to possess their land."

    Archive 2008-04-20 2008

  • The supreme techne he calls kingly, and this is the techne that guides the use of all others

    Plato's Shorter Ethical Works Woodruff, Paul 2005

  • Nothing is so good, nothing so serviceable to human life, as the smoking of tobacco -- which may well be called a kingly plant, seeing that the monarchs of the earth are not ashamed to use it.

    Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce E. R. Billings

  • What he did not find there was the natural prerogative -- such justification, in kingly, that is to say, in exceptional, qualities, of the exceptional position, as makes it practicable in the result.

    Appreciations, with an Essay on Style Walter Pater 1866

  • Some of the styles of this discipline are listed below: First, we have Raja Yoga which is also referred to as the kingly form, and the discipline's chief practice is considered to be meditation which is also known to include several other methods that are known to help an individual control energy, body, mind and senses.

    xml's Blinklist.com 2008

  • Although the first two presidents gave yearly addresses, Thomas Jefferson decided in 1801 that anything so resembling the British monarch's annual Speech From the Throne was too "kingly" for a young country fresh from a revolution.

    The State of the Union doesn't always go according to script Karen Tumulty 2011

  • My kids have used the gold for "kingly" costumes, the silver to be knights, and the bluey-holographic to be elves aka The Lord of the Rings.

    Fa-la-la... hello!!! Heidi Hess Saxton 2007

  • When America's Founders revolted against "taxation without representation," this is precisely the kind of kingly diktat they had in mind.

    Reckless 'Endangerment' 2009

  • He had gone to ruin with a kind of kingly Abandon, like one who condescended; but once ruined, with the lights all out, he fought as for a kingdom.

    Memories and Portraits 2005

Comments

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  • Here are no heirlooms

    Save those of loveliness,

    In which each tree

    Is kingly in its heritage of grace.

    - David Rosenthal, 'Trees Need Not Walk the Earth'.

    September 23, 2009