Lordly
adj, adv ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Of or relating to a lord.
"Show us your lordly might: demonstrate that you can order people and get them to obey."
- 2 Alternative form of lordly. alt-of, alternative
- 3 Having the qualities of a lord; lordlike; noble
"Deep, indeed, / Their debt of thanks to her who first had dared / To leap the rotten pales of prejudice, / Disyoke their necks from custom, and assert / None lordlier than themselves but that which made / Woman and man."
- 4 Appropriate for, or suitable to, a lord; glorious.
"He asked water, and she gaue him milke, shee brought forth butter in a lordly dish."
- 5 Proud; haughty; imperious; insolent.
"Lords are Lordlieſt in thir wine; […]"
- 1 of or befitting a lord wordnet
- 2 having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy wordnet
- 1 In the manner of a lord. Showing command or nobility.
"1891, Sir Edwin Arnold, The Light of the World: Or, The Great Consummation, Book I — “Mary Magdalene”, Funk & Wagnalls, page 56, […] / And Herod's painted pinnaces, ablaze / With lamps, and brazen shields and spangled slaves, / Came and went lordly at Tiberias; / […]"
Example
More examples"The only evidence of the once stately pile of Castra Regis and its inhabitants was a shapeless huddle of shattered architecture, dimly seen as the keen breeze swept aside the cloud of acrid smoke which marked the site of the once lordly castle."
Etymology
From Middle English lordly, lordlich, from Old English hlāfordlīċ (“lordly; heroic; noble”), equivalent to lord + -ly. The adverb is from Middle English lordly, lordely, lordliche.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.