madam

American  

[mad-uhm] / ˈmæd əm /

noun

• mesdames,
  plural
• madams
  plural

1. (often initial capital letter) a polite term of address to a woman, originally used only to a woman of rank or authority.

   Madam President; May I help you, madam?

2. the woman in charge of a household.

   Is the madam at home?

3. the woman in charge of a house of prostitution.

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madam British  

/ ˈmædəm /

noun

1. a polite term of address for a woman, esp one considered to be of relatively high social status

2. a woman who runs a brothel

3. informal a precocious or pompous little girl

4. informal the lady of the house

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• madams
  plural
• mesdames
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of madam

1250–1300; Middle English madame < Old French, originally ma dame my lady; see dame

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Explanation

Madam is a very formal way to address a woman, particularly an older or married woman. A waiter at a fancy restaurant might say, "Your table is ready, madam." If a stranger calls a woman madam, he probably sees her as a mature, dignified person. If the woman is younger, she is more likely to be called "miss," and sometimes madam is abbreviated as "ma'am." Another kind of madam is a woman who owns or runs a house of prostitution. Madam comes from the French phrase ma dame, "my lady."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

madam madams mesdames

McBride thanked the chair, calling them "madam," and began to speak before Keating demanded that McBride be addressed correctly.

From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2025

“Poor Things” features Bella, a reanimated woman who has to invent her life, and her guideposts are a prostitute, a brothel madam and a former actress.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2023

Speaker Frank: A simple matter of coordination, madam.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 21, 2023

I asked the hotel manager whether there were damages to be paid; he told me, 'No madam, nothing was broken, everything was simply disassembled'.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2023

"I don't want to go up to my room, madam," Mr Jenkins said.

From "The Witches" by Roald Dahl

He played queens, courtesans, goddesses and brothel madams with a studied grace.

From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2026

Black History Tours from Off the Mall Tours: Off the Mall Tours offers a collection of walking tours covering subjects as esoteric as Civil War madams and the birth of D.C. punk.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2023

While Stabler busies himself with mobsters and madams, the long-running “Special Victims Unit,” whose fictional plots often riff on real-world headlines, has become a lugubrious public-service announcement on modern policing.

From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2022

Tell us about some of the characters, particularly the madams Cora and Pearl, and vice boss Bartolo Ballerino, who I understand were real people.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2015

It’s been a struggle, believe me—don’t think I’ve had an easy time of it, because the madams of these places don’t like to deal with women.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

Ladies and gentlemen, messieurs et mesdames, le cheeseburger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2024

But from a Scottish perspective this now has the appearance of a bizarre game of high stakes poker between mesdames May and Sturgeon.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2017

And Paul H. Canada, the costume designer, wickedly dresses Molière’s mesdames in cartoon couture.

From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2014

Je vous prie d'agréer, mesdames, messieurs, l'expression de mes sentiments distingués", while across the Channel we'll be concluding our correspondence with "Laters, yeah?

From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2013

Even so, the social columnists still did not write about his wife’s dresses when he and she attended the opera, the way they described the nightly couture of mesdames Palmer, Pullman, and Armour.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

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