empress
noun
em·press
| \ ˈem-prəs
\
\
Definition of empress
1
: the wife or widow of an emperor
2
: a woman who is the sovereign or supreme monarch of an empire
Examples of empress in a Sentence
the Emperor and Empress of Japan
Catherine the Great was Empress of Russia.
Recent Examples on the Web
Despite having eight empresses throughout their history, Japan currently does not allow women to have a place in the line of succession. — Stephanie Petit, PEOPLE.com, "Prince Charles Is Heading to Japan for a Royal Reason — the New Emperor's Enthronement!," 13 Aug. 2019 Helen Mirren solidifies her status as our real-life queen with her latest role as Catherine the Great for an upcoming HBO program named after the 18th-century Russian empress. — Erica Gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "Bow Down to Helen Mirren in the Catherine the Great Trailer," 22 July 2019 The empress and her husband had begun living separate lives. — National Geographic, "Life for this Bavarian princess was no fairy tale," 14 May 2019 Michiko is the first commoner to become empress in modern Japanese history. — Washington Post, "Japan’s ex-Empress Michiko has early stage breast cancer," 10 Aug. 2019 Japanese-American opera singer Arisa Kusumi will play the Mikado, or empress. — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, "Using ‘The Mikado’ to embrace Japanese culture, female power," 8 Aug. 2019 Helen Mirren stars as Catherine the Great, former empress of Russia, in an HBO limited series debuting this fall. — Erica Gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "Bow Down to Helen Mirren in the Catherine the Great Trailer," 22 July 2019 The empress is the Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund, celebrated for her Strauss roles. — Larry Wolff, The New York Review of Books, "A Resonant Centenary for Strauss at the Vienna State Opera," 13 June 2019 Once on board, the 60-year-old empress fainted from blood loss and died that same night. — National Geographic, "Life for this Bavarian princess was no fairy tale," 14 May 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'empress.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for empress
empress
noun
English Language Learners Definition of empress
: the wife or widow of an emperor
: a woman who rules an empire
See the full definition for empress in the English Language Learners Dictionary
empress
noun
em·press
| \ ˈem-prəs
\
\
Kids Definition of empress
1
: a woman who rules an empire
2
: the wife of an emperor
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