monarch
noun
Simple meaning
A nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mahnahrkSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɑnɑɹk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The ruler of an absolute monarchy or the head of state of a constitutional monarchy.
A nation's ruler or head of state usually by hereditary right
A monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and others of genus Danaus, found primarily in North America.
The chief or best thing of its kind.
Two other peaks with the affix "mountain": Monarch Mountain (Alberta) and Monarch Mountain (British Columbia).
Large migratory American butterfly having deep orange wings with black and white markings; the larvae feed on milkweed
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The ruler of an absolute monarchy or the head of state of a constitutional monarchy.
Used this way, monarch is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- crowned head , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use monarch
- “The reigning monarch waved to the crowd from the palace balcony.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
An autocracy governed by a monarch who usually inherits the authority.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Large migratory American butterfly having deep orange wings with black and white markings.
A female sovereign ruler.
A male sovereign.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: ruler of an absolute monarchy
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.