noun
- a state or government having a king or queen as its head.
- anything conceived as constituting a realm or sphere of independent action or control: the kingdom of thought.
- a realm or province of nature, especially one of the three broad divisions of natural objects: the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms.
- 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).
- the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ.
- the domain over which the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ extends, whether in heaven or on earth.
noun
- a territory, state, people, or community ruled or reigned over by a king or queen
- any of the three groups into which natural objects may be divided: the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms
- biology 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 AnimaliaSee also domain (def. 12)
- theol the eternal sovereignty of God
- an area of activity, esp mental activity, considered as being the province of something specifiedthe kingdom of the mind
Old English cyningdom; see king + -dom. Cognate with Old Saxon kuningdom, Middle Dutch koninghdom, Old Norse konungdomr. The usual Old English word was cynedom; Middle English also had kingrick (for second element, see Reichstag). Meaning “one of the realms of nature” is from 1690s. Kingdom-come “the next world” (1785) is from the Lord’s Prayer.
- The highest classification into which living organisms are grouped in Linnean taxonomy, ranking above a phylum. One widely accepted system of classification divides life into five kingdoms: prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, and animals. See Table at taxonomy.
In biology, the largest of the divisions of living things. The best-known kingdoms are those of the plants and animals. Modern biologists recognize three additional kingdoms: Monera (or Prokaryotae) (for example, bacteria and blue-green algae), Protoctista (for example, red algae, slime molds, and amoebas and other protozoa), and fungi. (See Linnean classification.)