Definition of "regnant"

regnant

/ˈɹɛɡnənt/

adjective
not comparable
1. Reigning, ruling; currently holding power.
  Quotations
  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.
  1910, A. M. Fairbairn, Studies in Religion and Theology, page 99
2. Dominant; holding sway; having particular power or influence.
  Quotations
  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.
  2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 7
3. (postpositive) of a monarch, ruling in one's one right; often contrasted with consort and dowager
noun
plural regnants
1. (obsolete) A sovereign or ruler.
  Quotations
  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 peelhouse in the country; so if we lack government, it is not for lack of governors.
  1820, [Walter Scott], chapter 6, in The Abbot. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […]