courtier

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A beneficiary might have to bow and scrape like a courtier, or accept treatment as a glorified servant.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

He has survived multiple damaging scandals and found his way back to power every time, like a wily Renaissance courtier or an unkillable horror-movie villain, and may well survive this one.

From Salon • Nov. 30, 2025

Unlike the conniving courtier Stone played in “The Favourite,” Bella doesn’t have a calculating bone in her body; she’s all reckless id, a purely instinctual creature.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 1, 2023

Some of this may be down to Mr Case's "inexperience" as a senior civil servant, he suggested, and his apparent desire to act as "courtier" to ministers, rather than an impartial adviser.

From BBC • Mar. 7, 2023

He ate some bread, and said, “My girls, they do like to dance. Little one, Shirley, she going to dance like a courtier when she’s grown. The big one, she wants the graces.”

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson