1
: a sovereign male ruler of a continental European duchy
2
: a nobleman of the highest hereditary rank
especially
: a member of the highest grade of the British peerage
Examples of duke in a Sentence
Noun
Put up your dukes and fight, you coward!
Recent Examples on the Web
Jack King, Vulture, 20 Sep. 2024
Under the Farnese dukes, the city became wealthy and powerful.
—Laura Itzkowitz, Travel + Leisure, 3 Nov. 2024
Grace Hase, The Mercury News, 5 Nov. 2024
The highlight for me was watching and listening closely to Joan Robinson (Post-Keynesian diva) duking it out with Frank Hahn (Neoclassical divo), in playful but serious jabs and thrusts.
—John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for duke 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Oh — and the duke is disinvited from the queen’s jubilee celebrations.
—Jack King, Vulture, 20 Sep. 2024
Under the Farnese dukes, the city became wealthy and powerful.
—Laura Itzkowitz, Travel + Leisure, 3 Nov. 2024
Verb
Since May, Liccardo and Low have duked it out on the campaign trail as millions of dollars flooded the race despite it not being one of California’s key battleground races.
—Grace Hase, The Mercury News, 5 Nov. 2024
The highlight for me was watching and listening closely to Joan Robinson (Post-Keynesian diva) duking it out with Frank Hahn (Neoclassical divo), in playful but serious jabs and thrusts.
—John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for duke
Dictionary Entries Near duke
Cite this Entry
“Duke.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/duke. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationBiographical Definition
Duke
biographical name
ˈdük 
ˈdyük
Benjamin Newton 1855–1929 and his brother James Buchanan 1856–1925 American tobacco industrialists
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share