as in lady
a woman of high birth or social position in the 19th century a number of American gentlewomen used their wealth and influence to further abolitionism, women's rights, and other worthy causes

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 gentlewoman Social status and fashion conspired to make gentlewomen’s footwear of every sort flimsy. Literary Hub, 4 Aug. 2025 The novelists’ parents were Patrick and Maria Brontë, an Irish clergyman and a Cornish gentlewoman who married in 1812. Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 May 2025 Rep Miller recognized Rep McBride as 'gentleman' and 'Mr.' NOT as 'gentlewoman' and 'Ms.' McBride is a MAN!!! Martha McHardy, Newsweek, 4 Mar. 2025 Maybe Kate can get Parton to hop back across the pond to play a few songs and, as a real Southern gentlewoman, teach those rather provincial Brits how to properly serve tea. Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 28 Aug. 2023 One of his stories is about a Southern gentlewoman who keeps her dead fiance’s corpse in her bed. Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2023 In the north, Solomon knew, young oblates, the cherished daughters of gentlewomen, were given to the Lord out of the ranks of the nobility. Cynthia Ozick, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gentlewoman
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
  • 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
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

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Cite this Entry

“Gentlewoman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gentlewoman. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.

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