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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of grande dame
Often considered the grande dame of all engineering disciplines, mechanical engineering represents the broadest and most versatile field.
—
Srishti Gupta, Interesting Engineering, 14 Aug. 2025
Brigitte Bardot, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Frank Sinatra, and other celebrities vacationed there, camping out at the Astir Palace—the grande dame of Riviera elegance and a fixture in films, fashion shoots, and society pages.
—Hester Underhill, Travel + Leisure, 15 July 2025
Instead, the grande dame of hospitality was replaced by an overweening, obscenely tall, utterly out of place, speculative supertall skyscraper: the Empire State Building.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 10 July 2025
Brandi Glanville & Lisa Vanderpump (RHOBH) Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photo: Kelsey McNeal/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Lisa and Brandi were an odd fit from the start: Brandi, the crass newbie; Lisa Vanderpump, the grande dame of Beverly Hills.
—Eddie Mouradian, Vulture, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for grande dame
Srishti Gupta, Interesting Engineering, 14 Aug. 2025
Brigitte Bardot, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Frank Sinatra, and other celebrities vacationed there, camping out at the Astir Palace—the grande dame of Riviera elegance and a fixture in films, fashion shoots, and society pages.
—Hester Underhill, Travel + Leisure, 15 July 2025
Instead, the grande dame of hospitality was replaced by an overweening, obscenely tall, utterly out of place, speculative supertall skyscraper: the Empire State Building.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 10 July 2025
Brandi Glanville & Lisa Vanderpump (RHOBH) Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photo: Kelsey McNeal/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Lisa and Brandi were an odd fit from the start: Brandi, the crass newbie; Lisa Vanderpump, the grande dame of Beverly Hills.
—Eddie Mouradian, Vulture, 11 June 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
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The empress dowager’s legacy Empress Dowager Ling was largely unsuccessful in her bid for power.—
Stephanie Balkwill,
The Conversation,
17 Mar. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
Cite this Entry
“Grande dame.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grande%20dame. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
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