royalty
noun
Simple meaning
A royal right or prerogative, such as the exploitation of a natural resource.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
royuhlteeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹɔɪəlti
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
People of royal rank, plus their families, treated as a group.
A royal right or prerogative, such as the exploitation of a natural resource; the granting of such a right; payment received for such a right.
by extension
Payment made to a writer, composer, inventor etc for the sale or use of intellectual property, invention etc.
The payment received by an owner of real property for exploitation of mineral rights in the property.
The rank, status, power or authority of a monarch.
figuratively
Someone in a privileged position.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: People of royal rank, plus their families, treated as a group.
Used this way, royalty 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
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use royalty
- “The wedding was attended by royalty.”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.
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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.