Primary sense: A small, portable organ whose sound is produced by brass beating reeds without amplifying resonators. Its tone is keen and rich in harmonics. The regal was common in the 16th and 17th centuries, and has been revived for the performance of music from those times.
Grammar: regal is listed as adj, noun.
Nearest alternatives: imperial, majestic, advantageous, ancient kingdom.
Useful contrasts: banal, humble, modest.
Usage evidence: Meanwhile with regal splendour they arrayed / the palace-hall, where feast and banquet high / all in the centre of the space is laid.
How to use "regal"
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Source and review context
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Before you rely on this definition
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Definition decision workflow
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Check whether "regal" is acting as adj, noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
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Final meaning check
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Definitions
Noun
1
A small, portable organ whose sound is produced by brass beating reeds without amplifying resonators. Its tone is keen and rich in harmonics. The regal was common in the 16th and 17th centuries, and has been revived for the performance of music from those times.
2
An organ stop of the reed family, furnished with a normal beating reed, but whose resonator is a fraction of its natural length. In the 16th and 17th centuries these stops took a multitude of forms. Today only one survives that is of universal currency, the so-called vox humana.
Adjective
1
Of, pertaining to, or suitable for royalty.
"regal authority"
2
Befitting a monarch.
"The [Washington] Posts proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal' Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account."
3
Befitting a monarch.; Befitting a king or emperor.
"The children to whom I acted as cicerone almost screamed with glee as they saw the four-and-twenty blackbirds emerging from the pie-crust in front of the astonished King; and when the climax of the inconsequential story was reached, by way of the regal counting house and the “reginal” parlour, and a blackbird (presumably one of the four-and-twenty that had been temporarily immured in the pie) was seen about to revenge himself on the innocent nose of the guiltless laundry-maid, a veritable climax of enthusiasm was reached."
"Meanwhile with regal splendour they arrayed / the palace-hall, where feast and banquet high / all in the centre of the space is laid."
Common questions
What does "regal" mean?
A small, portable organ whose sound is produced by brass beating reeds without amplifying resonators. Its tone is keen and rich in harmonics. The regal was common in the 16th and 17th centuries, and has been revived for the performance of music from those times.
What is a synonym for "regal"?
Common synonyms include: imperial, majestic, advantageous, ancient kingdom, aristocratic, august.
How do you use "regal" in a sentence?
Meanwhile with regal splendour they arrayed / the palace-hall, where feast and banquet high / all in the centre of the space is laid.
How do you pronounce "regal"?
Pronounced /ˈɹiːɡəl/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English regal, from Old French regal (“regal, royal”), from Latin rēgālis (“royal, kingly”), from rex (“king”); also regere (“to rule”). Doublet of royal (“belonging to a monarch”), real (“unit of currency”), ariary, and riyal. Cognate with Spanish real.
Etymology 2
From Middle English regal, from Middle French régale, possibly from Old French regol (“a gutter, channel”). Doublet of rail, regula, rigol, and rule.