Palace
name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Official residence of a head of state or other dignitary, especially in a monarchical or imperial governmental system.
- 2 official residence of an exalted person (as a sovereign) wordnet
- 3 A large and lavishly ornate residence.
"On Madame de Mercœur's arrival at the palace she found the carriage and guards in waiting, the Queen having decided that she would do her niece the honour of going to meet her."
- 4 a large and stately mansion wordnet
- 5 A large, ornate public building used for entertainment or exhibitions.
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- 6 a large ornate exhibition hall wordnet
- 7 the governing group of a kingdom wordnet
- 1 To decorate or ornate. archaic
"And this Great King was a far-way, tremendous, golden figure, moving in a splendor as of fairy tales; palaced marvelously, so travelers told, in cities compared with which even Athens seemed mean."
- 1 Ellipsis of Crystal Palace Football Club (“a football team from London”). UK, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 2 Ellipsis of Malacañang Palace. Philippines, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"In the palace live the king and the queen."
Etymology
From Middle English paleys, from Old French palais, which comes from Latin palātium, from Palātium, in reference to the Palatine (Palatine Hill), one of the seven hills of Rome, where the aristocracy of the Roman Republic—and later, Roman emperors—built large, splendid residences. The name is ultimately either from Etruscan, the same source as Pales (“Pales, the Italic goddess of shepherds, flocks and livestock”), or Latin palus (“stake; enclosure”). Doublet of palazzo and Pfalz.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.