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royalty definition

roy·alty (ro̵iəl tē)

noun pl. royalties -·ties

  1. the rank, status, or power of a king or queen; royal position, dignity, etc.; sovereignty
  2. a royal person or, collectively, royal persons
  3. Archaic a royal domain or realm; kingdom
  4. royal quality or character; nobility, magnanimity, etc.
  5. Archaic a right, privilege, or prerogative of a monarch
  6. Rare
    1. a royal right, as over some natural resource, granted by a monarch to a person, corporation, etc.
    2. payment for such a right
    1. a share of the proceeds or product paid to the owner of a right, as a patent, for permission to use it or operate under it
    2. such a share paid to one from whom lands rich in oil or minerals are leased
    3. a share of proceeds, usually a specified percentage, paid for the work of an author, composer, etc. by the publisher

Etymology: ME roialte < OFr < ML regalitas < L regalis, regal

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:
royalty Synonyms

royalty

n.

kingship, queenship, sovereignty, nobility, authority, eminence, distinction, blood, birth, high descent, rank, greatness, power, supremacy, primacy, the crown, suzerainty; see also aristocracy.

Degrees of royalty include: czar, czarina, czarevitch, czarevna, grand duke, grand duchess, shah, emperor, empress, king, queen, prince of Wales, princess of Wales, margrave, margravine, archduke, archduchess, princess royal, queen mother, prince consort, prince, prince regent, dauphin, princess, duke, duchess.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

royalty Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • distribute: Runtime copies can be distributed royalty free to unlimited numbers of users.

Adjective modifier

  • non-exclusive: If you submit information to us, by doing so you give us a non-exclusive royalty free license to use it.

Modifies a noun

  • payment: Just consider the royalty payments required to use film stills.

Noun used with modifier

  • re-sale: The UK Re-sale Royalty Right In 1977 the Whitford Committee on Copyright Law reported to the then government on re-sale royalty rights.
royalty usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

royalty quotes

Above all things our royalty is to be reverenced, and if you begin to poke about it you cannot reverence it† Its mystery isits life.We must not let indaylight uponmagic.

-Bagehot,Walter

If there be no nobility of descent in a nation, it is all the more indispensable that there should be nobility of ascent; a character in them that bear rule, so fine and high and pure, that as men come within the circle of its influence, they involuntarily pay homagetothat which is the one pre-eminent distinctionöthe royalty of virtue.

-Potter, Henry Codman

Royalty puts a human face on the operations of government.

-Runcie, Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron

royalty quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"royalty." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/royalty>

APA Style

royalty. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/royalty

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