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STATELY
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Irregular inflected forms: statelier , stateliest
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court
Example:
a courtly gentleman
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
dignified (having or expressing dignity; especially formality or stateliness in bearing or appearance)
Derivation:
stateliness (an elaborate manner of doing something)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Impressive in appearance
Example:
stately columns
Synonyms:
baronial; imposing; noble; stately
Classified under:
Similar:
impressive (making a strong or vivid impression)
Derivation:
stateliness (impressiveness in scale or proportion)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of size and dignity suggestive of a statue
Synonyms:
stately; statuesque
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
tall (great in vertical dimension; high in stature)
Derivation:
stateliness (impressiveness in scale or proportion)
Context examples:
And as they were sitting at the marriage-feast, the music suddenly stopped, the doors opened, and a stately king came in with a great retinue.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
So once more the little company set off upon the journey, the Lion walking with stately strides at Dorothy's side.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
"Well, little girl, what is it?" replied her mother, in whose eyes the stately young lady still remained 'the baby'.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
She was a tall, blond woman, slender, and stately, and beautiful.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
“I am afraid that it will take wiser heads than yours or mine,” he remarked, and bowing in a stately, old-fashioned manner he departed.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Yes, ma'am, indeed, replied the other, with a stately simper, there will be some satisfaction in looking on now, and I think it was rather a pity they should have been obliged to part.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
With the Judge’s sons, hunting and tramping, it had been a working partnership; with the Judge’s grandsons, a sort of pompous guardianship; and with the Judge himself, a stately and dignified friendship.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
She carried herself in the most stately fashion, so that as I looked at her majestic entrance, and at the pose which she struck as she glanced at my father, I was reminded of the Queen of the Peruvians as, in the person of Miss Polly Hinton, she incited Boy Jim and myself to insurrection.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
With a stately gravity, he, with the lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
She read it, in the same stately and impassive way,—untouched by its contents, as far as I could see,—and returned it to him.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
