queen regnant
- noun
- /kwin ˈrɛɡnənt/
:
reina reinante
- As a queen regnant, Mary I made significant changes to the religion of her kingdom.
Examples
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Indeed, this was necessary if a queen regnant was to escape the charges of supplementarity associated with women who sought to wield patriarchal authority.
Academic text (2001) -
There existed for any queen regnant, in other words, an all-important difference between power and authority.
Academic text (2001) -
Queen Elizabeth II was an influential queen regnant who served for decades.
-
The country celebrated its first queen regnant in over a hundred years when she ascended the throne.
Synonyms
549
1.0
A woman who rules a country or is the king's wife
41
5.1
A king or queen who rules a country and usually gets the job by birth
1
5.4
A woman who rules a country, for example a queen
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a female sovereign who reigns in her own right' is directly derivable from combining 'queen' (female monarch) with 'regnant' (exercising authority/reigning), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the sense. The phrase is compositional and parallels similar constructions in other languages that distinguish a reigning queen from a queen consort, supporting a transparent rating.
Etymology
Queen regnant literally combines queen and regnant, which means 'to rule'. Imagine a woman on the throne, ruling herself rather than being only the 'wife' of a king; so it means a female ruler who has the throne in her own right.