Word.ws English Dictionary

courtliest

courtliest is the superlative form of courtly.

Meaning of courtly

Adjective

courtly (comparative courtlier, superlative courtliest)

  1. Befitting of a royal court; reflecting the manners or behaviour of people at court; stately, rich or fine, and so suitable for a royal court.
    • He swept off his hat and made a deep courtly bow.
  2. (broadly) Of or relating to courtly love or courtship.
  3. Of or relating to a royal court.
    • She tried to remain aloof from courtly intrigues.
  4. (obsolete) Overly eager to please or obey.
    • Here FLATT’RY, eldest born of guile, / Weaves with rare skill the silken smile, / The courtly cringe, the supple bow, / The private squeeze, the Levee vow,1764, C[harles] Churchill, “Book I”, in The Duellist. A Poem. […], London: […] G. Kearsly, […]; W[illiam] Flexney, […]; J. Coote, […]; C. Henderson, […]; J. Gardiner, […]; and J. Almon, […], →OCLC...

See all 5 meanings of courtly

Questions about courtliest

What is courtliest the superlative form of?
Courtliest is the superlative form of courtly.

Words near courtliest in the dictionary

  1. courtledges
  2. courtless
  3. courtlet
  4. courtlets
  5. courtlier
  6. courtliest
  7. courtlike
  8. courtlily
  9. courtliness
  10. courtlinesses
  11. courtling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: courtliest (page history and authors); courtly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “courtliest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/courtliest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.