regnant means reigning, ruling; currently holding power. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 79 out of 100.
regnant is pronounced /ˈɹɛɡnənt/.
Why “regnant” is a great word
Currently exercising sovereign authority as a monarch, particularly one who reigns in their own right. From the Middle French regnant, from the Latin rēgnāns, present participle of regnāre ("to reign, rule"). First attested in English c. 1600. Unlike "consort," which denotes a spouse bearing title without sovereignty, or "dominant," which speaks broadly to any form of preeminence, "regnant" specifies the solitary, official exercise of royal power. It is the cold weight of the scepter in a steady hand, the unfaded crimson of a personal standard, and the singular signature that commits a nation to war or peace—the quiet, absolute fact of rule, which is always a form of splendid isolation.
Etymology
From Middle English regnant, reignant, from Middle French regnant, régnant, and its source, Latin rēgnāns, the present participle of regnāre.
adj
- Reigning, ruling; currently holding power.“The people are now the State, their will is the regnant will, and that will has this characteristic — it loves principles, it hates compromises; and the principles it loves must be regulative, fit to be applied to the work and guidance of life.”
- Dominant; holding sway; having particular power or influence.“The doors of his temples were kept open in time of war, the time in which the ideas of contradiction and conflict are most naturally regnant.”
- of a monarch, ruling in one's own right; often contrasted with consort and dowager“Queen Elizabeth II reigned as queen regnant, unlike her mother Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.”
noun
- A sovereign or ruler.“Here are two sovereigns in the land, a regnant and a claimant—that is enough of one good thing—but if any one wants more, he may find a king in every peel-house in the country; so if we lack government, it is not for lack of governors—[…]”