drag queen

noun

plural drag queens
: a person and especially a man who performs as an entertainer in usually female drag (see drag entry 3 sense 2a)
Drag queens, who are traditionally male, dress in "drag" as female characters.Laura Wavra
For the past decade, (basically since RuPaul started Drag Race) traditional drag queens (ie, cis men performing as female characters) have been blowing up in the popular zeitgeist …Brittany Knupper
Drag is not simply female impersonation, but involves drag queens exaggerating femininity and drag kings exaggerating masculinity.Shannon Kelly
[Victoria] Sin is a female-bodied non-binary drag queen, examining how Western ideals of femininity are produced and consumed.Amrou Al-Kadhi
They are a black, non-binary drag queen with a beard in a part of the country that has a reputation for being anti-LGBTQ+.Bailey Shelton

Examples of drag queen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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.
The queen of Broadway was just honored by drag queens! Lawrence Yee, People.com, 19 Apr. 2025 Trixie Mattel, the first-ever drag queen to play the stage, had just hit the decks, ready to play her blend of pop’s biggest hits. Cerys Davies, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2025 Its cover is also an artwork: a painting by Will St. John, who often makes portraits of drag queens and trans models done in the style of Renaissance paintings. Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 28 Mar. 2025 Tammie Brown Making sense of drag queen Tammie Brown's wacky mind is a fool's errand — and yet, RuPaul casting her to help launch the inaugural season of Drag Race seems an obvious choice, in hindsight, within the Drag Race fantasy. Ew Staff, EW.com, 20 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for drag queen

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1941, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of drag queen was circa 1941

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Cite this Entry

“Drag queen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drag%20queen. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025.

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