grande dame

Definition of grande damenext
as in dowager
a dignified usually elderly woman of some rank or authority the city's grandes dames still hold considerable sway in its cultural life

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 grande dame Then in her mid-fifties, Bainbridge was already well on her way to the status of a slightly rackety grande dame, having made her name in the Seventies with a blizzard of short, elliptical novels, comic in execution but tinged with an underlying darkness. Christopher Tayler, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026 Athena, meanwhile, is a grande dame with an inability to shake anything off. Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2026 Grand Hotel Parker’s Naples’ historic grande dame occupies a privileged position on a hill in the elegant Chiaia neighborhood, with sweeping views of the Bay of Naples and Vesuvius in the distance. Laura Itzkowitz, Travel + Leisure, 19 Dec. 2025 Historical grande dames don’t seem to be her forte. Judy Berman, Time, 4 Dec. 2025 See All Example Sentences for grande dame
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grande 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
  • As the movie begins, Armando takes shelter in a Recife safehouse, overseen by a cigarette-ripping matron called Dona Sebastiana and populated by refugees navigating their own unspecified troubles.
    Michael Snyder, The Atlantic, 13 Mar. 2026
  • Only 40 guests were invited to the wedding, including John’s cousin Anthony Radziwill (who served as his best man); John’s sister, Caroline Kennedy (Carolyn’s matron of honour), and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg; and their kids, Jack (the ring bearer), Rose and Tatiana (both flower girls).
    Radhika Seth, Vogue, 7 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • When four of its members (Ogoni chiefs — one of whom was my mother’s brother-in-law) were brutally killed by restive Ogoni youths, the government arrested my father and eight of his colleagues.
    Noo Saro-Wiwa, The Dial, 24 Mar. 2026
  • Medina’s mother, reached by phone, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
    Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune, 23 Mar. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Grande dame.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grande%20dame. Accessed 28 Mar. 2026.

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