kingdom

UK: /ˈkɪŋdəm/ US: /ˈkɪŋdəm/ ,(king′dəm)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

king•dom /ˈkɪŋdəm/   n. [countable]

1. Government a state or government having a king or queen as its head.
2. anything making up an area or domain (as of study, thought, etc.):
   the kingdom of thought.
3. any of one of the three broad divisions of natural objects:
   the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

king•dom  (king′dəm), n. 

1. Government a state or government having a king or queen as its head.
2. anything conceived as constituting a realm or sphere of independent action or control:
   the kingdom of thought.
3. a realm or province of nature, esp. one of the three broad divisions of natural objects:
   the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms.
4. Biology a taxonomic category of the highest rank, grouping together all forms of life having certain fundamental characteristics in common: in the five-kingdom classification scheme adopted by many biologists, separate kingdoms are assigned to animals (Animalia), plants (Plantae), fungi (Fungi), protozoa and eucaryotic algae (Protista), and bacteria and blue-green algae (Monera).
5. Religion the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ.
6. Religion the domain over which the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ extends, whether in heaven or on earth.

• bef. 1000; Middle English; Old English cyningdōm. See king, -dom

Synonyms

• 1. Kingdom, monarchy, realm refer to the state or domain ruled by a king or queen. A kingdom is a governmental unit ruled by a king or queen:
  the kingdom of Norway.
  A monarchy is primarily a form of government in which a single person is sovereign; it is also the type of power exercised by the monarch:
  This kingdom is not an absolute monarchy.
  A realm is the domain, including the subjects, over which the king has jurisdiction; figuratively, a sphere of power or influence:
  the laws of the realm.
• 2. dominion, empire, domain.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

kingdom / ˈkɪŋdəm/ noun

1. a territory, state, people, or community ruled or reigned over by a king or queen
2. any of the three groups into which natural objects may be divided: the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms
3. any of the major categories into which living organisms of the domain Eukarya are classified. Modern systems recognize four kingdoms: Protoctista (algae, protozoans, etc), Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia
   See also domain12
4. the eternal sovereignty of God
5. an area of activity, esp mental activity, considered as being the province of something specified: the kingdom of the mind