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

The performer has paved the way for drag in Ukraine since the 90s, helping introduce the term drag queen into the Ukrainian media vocabulary. —Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 10 Mar. 2025

Dolores, Danielle, Chrishell, Britney, Ciara, Dylan, Carolyn, Sam, Ivar, Rob and Bob Harper voted for him after Rob managed to turn them against the drag queen. —Kimi Robinson, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2025

If the title didn’t clue you in, the show is all about the art and beauty of drag and stars drag queen actors as well as typical performers and even a rock band in the cast. —Sophie Liza Cannon, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025

Now, she's expanded to drag queens and several more krewes, in addition to special events and her regular hair and makeup clients. —Carlie Kollath Wells, Axios, 27 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1941, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for drag queen

• acrolein
• adenine
• alkylene
• aniline
• anthracene
• aquiline
• asphaltene
• atlantean
• atrazine
• butadiene
• butylene
• caesarean