leading lady

noun

|Updated on: 6 Aug 2018

Definition of leading lady

: an actress who plays the leading female role

See leading lady defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of leading lady from the Web

Alanis Morissette appears as party guest Dawn, who kisses Carrie in a Season 3 episode where the SATC leading lady is questioning bisexuality.

— anika reed, USA TODAY, "The 20 biggest 'Sex and the City' celebrity cameos you might have missed," 6 June 2018
The Hellfire Club is rife with Beltway intrigue and backroom deals, but Tapper's leading lady is what kept us turning pages.

— elisabeth egan, Glamour, "CNN's Jake Tapper Wrote Your New Favorite Fictional Heroine," 23 May 2018
Jacqueline Bisset is at her most beautiful as a leading lady coming back from a breakdown.

— hal boedeker, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Enzian screens peerless 'Day for Night'," 13 July 2018
Jurassic World and its sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (in theaters June 22), which promotes incredibly perceptive and intelligent raptor Blue to the level of leading lady, continue this theme.

— refinery29.com, "The Most Interesting Woman In Fallen Kingdom Is A Raptor: How The Jurassic Park Franchise Regressed," 20 June 2018
Even Bash and Sam -- the series' token male characters, rare for being handily outnumbered -- get more depth in a way that doesn't detract from the worthy leading ladies surrounding them.

— caroline framke, chicagotribune.com, "'Glow' goes from good to great in Season 2," 15 June 2018
Having steadily worked as a leading lady since her 1999 debut, Yu also previously served as a Dior brand ambassador in China.

— rebecca sun, The Hollywood Reporter, "WME Signs Chinese Actress Yu Nan (Exclusive)," 1 Mar. 2018
The leading lady's latest role wasn't on the silver screen, but was just as public.

— danielle garrand, CBS News, "Last surviving "Gone With the Wind" star Olivia de Havilland turns 102," 2 July 2018
Veteran company actor Tracy is ready to go as Romeo but his leading lady has unexpectedly quit for a better-paying gig in an off Broadway show.

— pam kragen, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Roustabout Theatre's modern love triangle 'Romeo' is frothy fun," 24 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'leading lady.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.