dame

1
as in dowager
a dignified usually elderly woman of some rank or authority as the grand dames of local society, they determined which charities received support

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of dame In 1997, Laine became the first British jazz artist to be made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight. George Varga, Mercury News, 28 July 2025 Bebe Buell turns 72 today, and the rock & roll grand dame has never been more vital. Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 14 July 2025 Many visitors to Paris check into the grand dames clustered around the Golden Triangle, an iconic luxury nabe known for haute couture shopping and five-star hotels. Siobhan Reid, Travel + Leisure, 8 July 2025 In honor of its 67th year, the grand dame, which sits on the Giudecca Island with views over the Venetian lagoon, has much to report. Melinda Sheckells, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019 See All Example Sentences for dame
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dame
Noun
  • The show’s underpinned by the differences in character and country of Lady Cora and her formidable mother-in-law, the dowager Countess Violet Crawley, played by the equally formidable and much missed Dame Maggie Smith.
    Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 22 July 2025
  • The empress dowager’s legacy Empress Dowager Ling was largely unsuccessful in her bid for power.
    Stephanie Balkwill, The Conversation, 17 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • The ladies took turns harmonizing and putting their arms around each other on stage during the sweet performance.
    Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Sep. 2025
  • One lady was being pulled by a rope.
    Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Madam Poppy Pomfrey played a vital role in the lives of Hogwarts students as a matron, who nursed the sick and injured.
    Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 1 Sep. 2025
  • The two women couldn’t be more different, but when a wealthy matron is found dead of an apparent suicide on the rocky shore of Vermont’s Lake Champlain, their fraught relationship gradually turns into a productive collaboration, despite Olivia’s missteps.
    Liza Tully, People.com, 6 July 2025
Noun
  • The most notorious, in 1978, saw the late queen hide behind a bush in the gardens of Buckingham Palace to avoid Nicolae Ceaușescu, having already removed anything that the Romanian dictator could steal from his room following a warning from Giscard d'Estaing, the then French president.
    Ian King, CNBC, 17 Sep. 2025
  • The promo references the famous —or, sometimes, infamous — farewells that contestants leave, penned in lipstick, on the vanity mirrors where queens do their makeup.
    Mathew Rodriguez, Them., 17 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Neither Oh’s dizzy countess nor Nyong’o’s charming, feckless Viola ever takes the reins of this production, but that would be hard to do.
    Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
  • In a similar vein (pun intended), the 16th-century Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory was rumored to have bathed in the blood of young girls to preserve her youth.
    New Atlas, New Atlas, 10 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dame.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dame. Accessed 19 Sep. 2025.

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