| English Dictionary |
STATELY (statelier, stateliest)
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| IPA (US): |  |
, stateliest Dictionary entry overview: What does stately mean?
• STATELY (adjective)
The adjective STATELY has 3 senses:
1. impressive in appearance
2. of size and dignity suggestive of a statue
3. refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court
Familiarity information: STATELY used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: stateliest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Impressive in appearance
Synonyms:
baronial; imposing; noble; stately
Context example:
stately columns
Similar:
impressive (making a strong or vivid impression)
Derivation:
stateliness (impressiveness in scale or proportion)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Of size and dignity suggestive of a statue
Synonyms:
stately; statuesque
Similar:
tall (great in vertical dimension; high in stature)
Derivation:
stateliness (impressiveness in scale or proportion)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court
Synonyms:
Context example:
a courtly gentleman
Similar:
dignified (having or expressing dignity; especially formality or stateliness in bearing or appearance)
Derivation:
stateliness (an elaborate manner of doing something)
Context examples
I thought that of all the stately front nothing remained but a shell-like wall, very high and very fragile-looking.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
She made me an elaborate and stately courtesy, and said, “As for you, sir—”
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
To this lady he presented me as his mother, and she gave me a stately welcome.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
There is something a little stately in him, to be sure, replied her aunt, but it is confined to his air, and is not unbecoming.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
When she rushed at him he turned his fur-protected shoulder to her sharp teeth and walked away stiff-legged and stately.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
After a pause of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it open.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Such was the stately presence who looked stonily at us from the centre of Dr. Huxtable’s hearthrug.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The huts, the neater cottages, and stately houses engaged my admiration by turns.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
“Come in, Mr. Dance,” says he, very stately and condescending.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
With stately steps and many profound bows, he advanced to the foot of the dais before replying to the prince's question.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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