headmistress
Americannoun
-
headmistresses
plural
noun
Gender
See -ess.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of headmistress
Explanation
A headmistress is the female principal of a school, particularly a private school. You might need to ask the headmistress of your high school for a college recommendation. Private schools and prep schools often call the person in charge a headmaste if he's a man and a headmistress if she's a woman. It's more common to have a principal in the United States, especially in public schools. The word headmistress is commonly thought of as British, but it's increasingly likely that a British student will use the term head teacher instead, since it can refer to either a man or a woman.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Of course, clubs aren’t clubs as they used to be,” said Agnes Nugent, 76, a retired headmistress, who joined the Rand Club in the early 1990s as one of its first female members.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025
Her headmistress was angry, complaining that her former pupil was throwing her life away.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2024
Headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh, who calls herself Britain’s strictest headmistress, said the ruling was a victory for all schools.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
She’s the headmistress of a school that is literally collapsing, and her marriage to Dave is in peril because the couple has buried their grief after losing a child.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2023
Penelope certainly did not want to feel cross with Miss Mortimer, but she wished her headmistress had been a bit more forthcoming.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
For one thing, amapiano - a type of house music that emerged from South Africa's townships in the early 2010s - was a genre for young people, not for 65-year-old school headmistresses.
From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2020
Across Australia politicians, police, columnists, headmistresses, radio loudmouths, preachers and priests had united in declaring Roth’s 1969 scatological masterpiece Portnoy’s Complaint a danger to the morals of the nation.
From The Guardian ● May 26, 2018
I've been expelled from three and the headmistresses still swoon when they hear my name breathed.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 6, 2010
A paradoxical reason for sending children to private prep schools was offered last week to a Manhattan conference of headmasters and headmistresses.
From Time Magazine Archive
The headmasters and headmistresses around the walls seemed less impressed by Dumbledore’s decision; Harry saw a few of them shaking their heads and Phineas Nigellus actually snorted.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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