a·li’i (ä-l???)n. pl. ali’i A member of the hereditary ruling class of traditional Hawaiian society.[Hawaiian ali’i, from Proto-Polynesian *’ariki.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.