KING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does King mean? 

• KING (noun)
  The noun KING has 10 senses:

1. a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom

2. a competitor who holds a preeminent position

3. a very wealthy or powerful businessman

4. preeminence in a particular category or group or field

5. United States woman tennis player (born in 1943)

6. United States guitar player and singer of the blues (born in 1925)

7. United States charismatic civil rights leader and Baptist minister who campaigned against the segregation of Blacks (1929-1968)

8. a checker that has been moved to the opponent's first row where it is promoted to a piece that is free to move either forward or backward

9. one of the four playing cards in a deck bearing the picture of a king

10. (chess) the weakest but the most important piece

  Familiarity information: KING used as a noun is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

king; male monarch; Rex

Hypernyms ("king" is a kind of...):

crowned head; monarch; sovereign (a nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "king"):

King of England; King of Great Britain (the sovereign ruler of England)

King of France (the sovereign ruler of France)

King of the Germans (the sovereign ruler of the Germans)

Instance hyponyms:

Gustavus; Gustavus V (king of Sweden who kept Sweden neutral during both World War I and II (1858-1950))

Macbeth (king of Scotland (died in 1057))

Leonidas (king of Sparta and hero of the battle of Thermopylae where he was killed by the Persians (died in 480 BC))

Kamehameha I; Kamehameha the Great (Hawaiian king who united the islands under his rule (1758-1819))

Juan Carlos; Juan Carlos Victor Maria de Borbon y Borbon (king of Spain since 1975 (born in 1938))

Jeroboam; Jeroboam I ((Old Testament) first king of the northern kingdom of Israel who led Israel into sin (10th century BC))

James; James IV (a Stuart king of Scotland who married a daughter of Henry VII; when England and France went to war in 1513 he invaded England and died in defeat at Flodden (1473-1513))

Husain; Husayn; Hussein; ibn Talal Hussein; King Hussein (king of Jordan credited with creating stability at home and seeking peace with Israel (1935-1999))

Ezekias; Hezekiah ((Old Testament) king of Judah who abolished idolatry (715-687 BC))

Herod; Herod the Great (king of Judea who (according to the New Testament) tried to kill Jesus by ordering the death of all children under age two in Bethlehem (73-4 BC))

Hammurabi; Hammurapi (Babylonian king who codified the laws of Sumer and Mesopotamia (died 1750 BC))

Gustavus; Gustavus VI (the last king of Sweden to have any real political power (1882-1973))

Olaf II; Olav II; Saint Olaf; Saint Olav; St. Olaf; St. Olav (King and patron saint of Norway (995-1030))

Gustavus; Gustavus IV (king of Sweden whose losses to Napoleon I led to his being deposed in 1809 (1778-1837))

Gustavus; Gustavus III (king of Sweden who increased the royal power and waged an unpopular war against Russia (1746-1792))

Gustavus; Gustavus Adolphus; Gustavus II (king of Sweden whose victories in battle made Sweden a European power; his domestic reforms made Sweden a modern state; in 1630 he intervened on the Protestant side of the Thirty Years' War and was killed in the battle of Lutzen (1594-1632))

Gustavus; Gustavus I (king of Sweden who established Lutheranism as the state religion (1496-1560))

Gordius (legendary king of ancient Phrygia who was said to be responsible for the Gordian knot)

Gilgamesh (a legendary Sumerian king who was the hero of an epic collection of mythic stories)

Ptolemy II (son of Ptolemy I and king of Egypt who was said to be responsible for the Septuagint (circa 309-247 BC))

Xerxes I; Xerxes the Great (king of Persia who led a vast army against Greece and won the battle of Thermopylae but was eventually defeated (519-465 BC))

Victor Emanuel III (king of Italy who appointed Mussolini prime minister; he abdicated in 1946 and the monarchy was abolished (1869-1947))

Victor Emanuel II (king of Italy who completed the unification of Italy by acquiring Venice and Rome (1820-1878))

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus; Tarquin; Tarquin the Proud; Tarquinius; Tarquinius Superbus (according to legend, the seventh and last Etruscan king of Rome who was expelled for his cruelty (reigned from 534 to 510 BC))

Solomon ((Old Testament) son of David and king of Israel noted for his wisdom (10th century BC))

Sennacherib (king of Assyria who invaded Judea twice and defeated Babylon and rebuilt Nineveh after it had been destroyed by Babylonians (died in 681 BC))

Saul ((Old Testament) the first king of the Israelites who defended Israel against many enemies (especially the Philistines))

Rameses; Ramesses; Ramses (any of 12 kings of ancient Egypt between 1315 and 1090 BC)

Pyrrhus (king of Epirus; defeated the Romans in two battles in spite of staggering losses (319-272 BC))

Mithridates; Mithridates the Great; Mithridates VI (ancient king of Pontus who expanded his kingdom by defeating the Romans but was later driven out by Pompey (132-63 BC))

Ptolemy I (the king of Egypt who founded the Macedonian dynasty in Egypt; a close friend and general of Alexander the Great who took charge of Egypt after Alexander died (circa 367-285 BC))

Philip of Valois; Philip VI (king of France who founded the Valois dynasty; his dispute with Edward III over his succession led to the Hundred Years' War (1293-1350))

Philip V (king of ancient Macedonia whose confrontations with the Romans led to his defeat and his loss of control over Greece)

Philip Augustus; Philip II (son of Louis VII whose reign as king of France saw wars with the English that regained control of Normandy and Anjou and most of Poitou (1165-1223))

Philip II; Philip II of Macedon (king of ancient Macedonia and father of Alexander the Great (382-336 BC))

Philip II; Philip II of Spain (king of Spain and Portugal and husband of Mary I; he supported the Counter Reformation and sent the Spanish Armada to invade England (1527-1598))

Pepin; Pepin III; Pepin the Short (king of the Franks and father of Charlemagne who defended papal interests and founded the Carolingian dynasty in 751 (714-768))

Frederick William III (king of Prussia who became involved in the Napoleonic Wars (1770-1840))

Nebuchadnezzar; Nebuchadnezzar II; Nebuchadrezzar; Nebuchadrezzar II ((Old Testament) king of Chaldea who captured and destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Israelites to Babylonia (630?-562 BC))

Athelstan (the first Saxon ruler who extended his kingdom to include nearly all of England (895-939))

David ((Old Testament) the 2nd king of the Israelites; as a young shepherd he fought Goliath (a giant Philistine warrior) and killed him by hitting him in the head with a stone flung from a sling; he united Israel with Jerusalem as its capital; many of the Psalms are attributed to David (circa 1000-962 BC))

Darius III (king of Persia who was defeated by Alexander the Great; his murder effectively ended the Persian Empire (died in 330 BC))

Darius I; Darius the Great (king of Persia who expanded the Persian Empire and invaded Greece but was defeated at the battle of Marathon (550-486 BC))

Cyrus II; Cyrus the Elder; Cyrus the Great (king of Persia and founder of the Persian Empire (circa 600-529 BC))

Croesus (last king of Lydia (died in 546 BC))

Clovis; Clovis I (king of the Franks who unified Gaul and established his capital at Paris and founded the Frankish monarchy; his name was rendered as Gallic 'Louis' (466-511))

Carl XVI Gustaf; Carl XVI Gustav (king of Sweden since 1973 (born 1946))

Bruce; Robert I; Robert the Bruce (king of Scotland from 1306 to 1329; defeated the English army under Edward II at Bannockburn and gained recognition of Scottish independence (1274-1329))

Attila; Attila the Hun; Scourge of God; Scourge of the Gods (king of the Huns; the most successful barbarian invader of the Roman Empire (406-453))

Frederick William IV (king of Prussia who violently suppressed democratic movements (1795-1865))

Ashurbanipal; Assurbanipal; Asurbanipal (king of Assyria who built a magnificent palace and library at Nineveh (668-627 BC))

Artaxerxes; Artaxerxes II (king of Persia who subdued numerous revolutions and made peace with Sparta (?-359 BC))

Artaxerxes; Artaxerxes I (king of Persia who sanctioned the practice of Judaism in Jerusalem (?-424 BC))

Alfred; Alfred the Great (king of Wessex; defeated the Vikings and encouraged writing in English (849-899))

Alaric (king of the Visigoths who captured Rome in 410 (370-410))

Akhenaten; Akhenaton; Amenhotep IV; Ikhanaton (early ruler of Egypt who rejected the old gods and replaced them with sun worship (died in 1358 BC))

Ahab (according to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC))

Messiah (the awaited king of the Jews; the promised and expected deliverer of the Jewish people)

Edmund II; Edmund Ironside (king of the English who led resistance to Canute but was defeated and forced to divide the kingdom with Canute (980-1016))

Gaiseric; Genseric (king of the Vandals who seized Roman lands and invaded North Africa and sacked Rome (428-477))

Frederick William II (king of Prussia who became involved in a costly war with France (1744-1797))

Frederick William I (son of Frederick I who became king of Prussia in 1713; reformed and strengthened the Prussian army (1688-1740))

Frederick II; Frederick the Great (king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786; brought Prussia military prestige by winning the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War (1712-1786))

Frederick I (son of Frederick William who in 1701 became the first king of Prussia (1657-1713))

Ferdinand; Ferdinand of Aragon; Ferdinand the Catholic; Ferdinand V; King Ferdinand (the king of Castile and Aragon who ruled jointly with his wife Isabella; his marriage to Isabella I in 1469 marked the beginning of the modern state of Spain and their capture of Granada from the Moors in 1492 united Spain as one country; they instituted the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 and supported the expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492 (1452-1516))

Ferdinand I; Ferdinand the Great (king of Castile and Leon who achieved control of the Moorish kings of Saragossa and Seville and Toledo (1016-1065))

Farouk I; Faruk I (king of Egypt who in 1952 was ousted by a military coup d'etat (1920-1965))

Faisal; Faisal ibn Abdel Aziz al-Saud (king of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975 (1906-1975))

Fahd; Fahd ibn Abdel Aziz al-Saud (king of Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 2005 (1923-2005))

Ethelred; Ethelred II; Ethelred the Unready (king of the English who succeeded to the throne after his half-brother Edward the Martyr was murdered; he struggled unsuccessfully against the invading Danes (969-1016))

Ethelred; Ethelred I (king of Wessex and Kent and elder brother of Alfred; Alfred joined Ethelred's battle against the invading Danes and succeeded him on his death (died in 871))

Ethelbert (Anglo-Saxon king of Kent who was converted to Christianity by Saint Augustine; codified English law (552-616))

Egbert (king of Wessex whose military victories made Wessex the most powerful kingdom in England (died in 839))

Edwin (king of Northumbria who was converted to Christianity (585-633))

Edward the Elder (king of Wessex whose military success against the Danes made it possible for his son Athelstan to become the first king of all England (870-924))

Edmund I (king of the English who succeeded Athelstan; he drove out the Danes and made peace with Scotland (921-946))

Holonyms ("king" is a member of...):

royal family; royal house; royal line; royalty (royal persons collectively)

Antonym:

queen (a female sovereign ruler)

Derivation:

kingdom (a monarchy with a king or queen as head of state)

kingdom (the domain ruled by a king or queen)

kingly (having the rank of or resembling or befitting a king)

kingship (the dignity or rank or position of a king)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A competitor who holds a preeminent position

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

king; queen; world-beater

Hypernyms ("king" is a kind of...):

challenger; competition; competitor; contender; rival (the contestant you hope to defeat)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A very wealthy or powerful businessman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

baron; big businessman; business leader; king; magnate; mogul; power; top executive; tycoon

Context example:

an oil baron

Hypernyms ("king" is a kind of...):

businessman; man of affairs (a person engaged in commercial or industrial business (especially an owner or executive))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "king"):

oil tycoon (a powerful person in the oil business)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Preeminence in a particular category or group or field

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

the lion is the king of beasts

Hypernyms ("king" is a kind of...):

distinction; eminence; note; preeminence (high status importance owing to marked superiority)

Sense 5

Meaning:

United States woman tennis player (born in 1943)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Billie Jean King; Billie Jean Moffitt King; King

Instance hypernyms:

tennis player (an athlete who plays tennis)

Sense 6

Meaning:

United States guitar player and singer of the blues (born in 1925)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

B. B. King; King; Riley B King

Instance hypernyms:

guitar player; guitarist (a musician who plays the guitar)

singer; vocaliser; vocalist; vocalizer (a person who sings)

Sense 7

Meaning:

United States charismatic civil rights leader and Baptist minister who campaigned against the segregation of Blacks (1929-1968)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

King; Martin Luther King; Martin Luther King Jr.

Instance hypernyms:

civil rights activist; civil rights leader; civil rights worker (a leader of the political movement dedicated to securing equal opportunity for members of minority groups)

clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend (a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A checker that has been moved to the opponent's first row where it is promoted to a piece that is free to move either forward or backward

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("king" is a kind of...):

checker; chequer (one of the flat round pieces used in playing the game of checkers)

Domain category:

checkers; draughts (a checkerboard game for two players who each have 12 pieces; the object is to jump over and so capture the opponent's pieces)

Sense 9

Meaning:

One of the four playing cards in a deck bearing the picture of a king

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("king" is a kind of...):

court card; face card; picture card (one of the twelve cards in a deck bearing a picture of a face)

Sense 10

Meaning:

(chess) the weakest but the most important piece

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("king" is a kind of...):

chess piece; chessman (any of 16 white and 16 black pieces used in playing the game of chess)

Domain category:

chess; chess game (a board game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king)

 Context examples 

No! he is a king, and he come when and how he like.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Yeomen prickers they are, who tend to the King's hunt.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The king heard me with attention, and began to conceive a much better opinion of me than he had ever before.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

King's College London scientists exposed colorectal tumors to the β-galactoside-binding protein (βGBP) in the laboratory.

(Molecule in Immune System Able to Trigger 'Suicide' of Cancerous Tumors, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

"The king is coppered, the seven is played open," he answered.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“You are right,” he cried; “I am the King. Why should I attempt to conceal it?”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A research team of King’s College London followed more than 600 infants beginning at 4 to 11 months of age.

(Peanut Consumption in Infancy Lowers Peanut Allergy, NIH)

And the Wicked Witch said to the King Crow, "Fly at once to the strangers; peck out their eyes and tear them to pieces."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

“Why, Daisy, here's a supper for a king!” he exclaimed, starting out of his silence with a burst, and taking his seat at the table.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The face of Jim O’Brien, a Mastodon King and old-time comrade, caught his eyes.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)