Monarch

//ˈmɑnɚk// name, noun

name, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The ruler of an absolute monarchy or the head of state of a constitutional monarchy.

    "Never was monarch better fear'd and lov'd / Than is your Majesty."

  2. 2
    large migratory American butterfly having deep orange wings with black and white markings; the larvae feed on milkweed wordnet
  3. 3
    A monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and others of genus Danaus, found primarily in North America.

    "But I know the monarchs are close by, their orange-and-black wings folded, dusted, and baked by heat, ready to flee south."

  4. 4
    a nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right wordnet
  5. 5
    A police officer.

    "‘Skippy gets off. An ya know the first thing e says to them monarch? E turns round on em an yelps, “An now ya can just gimme back that bottle.”’"

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A stag which has sixteen or more points or tines on its antlers. capitalized, often
  2. 7
    The chief or best thing of its kind.
  3. 8
    Any bird of the family Monarchidae.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    Locations in Canada:; A hamlet in Lethbridge County, Alberta. countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    Locations in Canada:; The Monarch, a mountain in British Columbia. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    Locations in Canada:; Two other peaks with the affix "mountain": Monarch Mountain (Alberta) and Monarch Mountain (British Columbia). countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community near Monarch Pass, Chaffee County, Colorado. countable, uncountable
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Cascade County, Montana. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Lee County, Virginia. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Kanawha County, West Virginia. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Sheridan County, Wyoming. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
sovereignmajestysovereignold bill'ralesanointed king

Example

More examples

"The band played for the visiting monarch."

Etymology

From Middle French monarque, from Late Latin monarcha, from Ancient Greek μονάρχης (monárkhēs), variant of μόναρχος (mónarkhos, “sole ruler”), from μόνος (mónos, “only”) + ἀρχός (arkhós, “leader”), equivalent to mono- + -arch. * (butterfly): See monarch butterfly.

Related phrases

African monarchBiak monarchabsolute monarchconstitutional monarchfalse monarchfrilled monarchgolden monarchmonarch caterpillarmonarch flycatchermonarch of all one surveysdanaus plexippushead of state

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.