poet laureate
noun
plural poets laureate
or poet laureates
Definition of poet laureate
1
: a poet honored for achievement
2a
: a poet appointed for life by an English sovereign as a member of the royal household and formerly expected to compose poems for court and national occasions
b
: a poet appointed annually by the U.S. Library of Congress as a consultant and typically involved in the promotion of poetry
3
: one regarded by a country or region as its most eminent or representative poet
Examples of poet laureate in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The poet laureate will receive a modest honorarium but is not considered a county employee. — Anne Gelhaus, The Mercury News, "Campbell community briefs for the week of Aug. 23," 23 Aug. 2019 The book did, of course, change everything—for restaurant-goers and for writers, and most powerfully, for cooks, who were, in a single instant, as if from on high, delivered a spokesman, and champion, and poet laureate. — David Canfield, EW.com, "Get a glimpse into Anthony Bourdain’s legacy in The Last Interview exclusive book excerpt," 19 Aug. 2019 Smith takes over from Jack Bedell, who has been Louisiana’s poet laureate since 2017. — USA TODAY, "Charlottesville remembered, drive-thru ban, ketchup karma: News from around our 50 states," 13 Aug. 2019 Rita Dove is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a former poet laureate of the United States. — Duriel E. Harris, New York Times, "Poem: ‘Before this dream’," 1 Aug. 2019 Harjo, who lives in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, will also be the first poet laureate from Oklahoma. — Caitlin O'kane, CBS News, "Joy Harjo makes history as first Native American to be named U.S. poet laureate," 19 June 2019 Kondo’s minimalism is all about detangling meaning from material; Bishop is the poet laureate of stuff. — Bridget Read, Vogue, "Delete Your Account," 10 Feb. 2019 Sacramento Bee Eureka has named its first-ever poet laureate. — Los Angeles Times, "Newsletter: Will Modesto ‘straight pride’ event happen this Saturday?," 23 Aug. 2019 For the project, Hinton and Orlando poet laureate Susan Lilley worked with musicians from the Central Florida Composers Forum. — Trevor Fraser, orlandosentinel.com, "Writers and composers collaborate for “Venus & the Radio” at Timucua in Orlando," 7 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'poet laureate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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