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• dame
  dame

  noun

  (in Britain)
• Dame
  Dame

  noun

  the title of a woman who has been awarded the Order of the British Empire or any of certain other orders of chivalry

dame

American  

[deym] / deɪm /

noun

dames plural

1. (initial capital letter) (in Britain)

   1. the official title of a female member of the Order of the British Empire, equivalent to that of a knight.

   2. the official title of the wife of a knight or baronet.

2. (formerly) a form of address to any woman of rank or authority.

3. a matronly woman of advanced age; matron.

4. Slang: Sometimes Offensive. a term used to refer to a woman.

   Some dame cut me off and almost caused an accident.

5. Ecclesiastical. a title of a nun in certain orders.

6. a mistress of a dame-school.

7. Archaic. the mistress of a household.

8. Archaic. a woman of rank or authority, especially a female ruler.

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dame ¹ British  

/ deɪm /

noun

1. (formerly) a woman of rank or dignity; lady

2. a nun who has taken the vows of her order, esp a Benedictine

3. archaic a matronly or elderly woman

4. slang a woman

5. Also called: pantomime dame.  the role of a comic old woman in a pantomime, usually played by a man

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Dame ² British  

/ deɪm /

noun

1. the title of a woman who has been awarded the Order of the British Empire or any of certain other orders of chivalry

2. the legal title of the wife or widow of a knight or baronet, placed before her name Compare Lady

   Dame Judith

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Sensitive Note

Dame is sometimes perceived as insulting when used to refer generally to a woman, unless it is a woman of rank or advanced age.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dames
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dame

1175–1225; Middle English < Old French < Latin domina, feminine of dominus lord, master

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dame Dame dames

The “grand dame diva of culture, divahood and porcine glamour” Miss Piggy, was honored at the show, where she showed up, naturally, in a pink dress and feather boa.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

Nearly two years on, Dame Tracey told the BBC she still has the "rebel" in her, but that being a dame means she also now has "a louder voice".

From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026

Twila is, in Hollywood parlance, a “firecracker” — you know, the tough-talking dame who inevitably nurses a wounded heart.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2026

The pair said becoming a dame and a sir respectively was "wonderful and humbling at the same time".

From Barron's ● Dec. 29, 2025

“Is that a dame? I can’t see a thing. Someone turn me around.”

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

Many of the players are expected to attend the Notre Dame game for a recognition ceremony.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

This past January, he resigned from University of Notre Dame, where he was a professor of sociology for 20 years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

The event remains "hugely important to netball", World Netball president Dame Liz Nicholl told BBC Sport, pointing out over 150,000 tickets were sold for netball at Birmingham 2022.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

To focus on baseball, Roch gave up a scholarship offer to play quarterback at Notre Dame.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

“Comfort Eleanor in her grief,” Dame Olga told her daughters.

From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine

West, one of the grande dames of the movement, got her start at Seattle alt-weekly the Stranger and spent years excoriating fatphobia, online misogyny, and male entitlement for the ur-millennial-feminist site Jezebel.

From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026

Mattie Ross is one of the toughest dames in American literature.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026

It's that time of year again when millions of people head to pantomimes to experience the bright lights, cheesy jokes and glamorous dames.

From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025

In a nod to social change, there was a contingent of drag performers costumed as “Catrinas,” skeletal dames dressed in the height of 1870s fashion.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2023

He could get a job dealing faro in Reno—regular hours and no dames.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck