stately

1. 1.

   impressive in appearance

   “a baronial mansion”

   “an imposing residence”

   “a noble tree”

   “severe-looking policemen sat astride noble horses”

   “stately columns”

   Synonymsbaronialimposingnoble

   Similarimpressive
2. 2.

   of size and dignity suggestive of a statue

   Synonymsstatuesque

   Similartall
3. 3.

   refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court

   “a courtly gentleman”

   Synonymscourtlyformal

   Similardignified

Other forms of stately

comparative or superlative

statelier

comparative or superlative

stateliest

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about stately

What does stately mean?

stately means "impressive in appearance". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in stately?

stately has 2 syllables: state-ly. The stress falls on "state". In IPA it is /ˈsteɪtli/.

What is another word for stately?

Close synonyms include baronial, imposing, noble, statuesque, courtly. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is stately a common word?

stately is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.