stewardess
Americannoun
-
stewardesses
plural
-
a woman flight attendant.
-
a woman who attends to the comfort of passengers on a ship, train, or bus.
noun
Gender
See -ess.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of stewardess
1625–35 for earlier sense “female steward”; 1930–35 stewardess for def. 1; steward + -ess
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:
Corinne Conley, now 96, co-starred as stewardess Janet, who helped Spencer land the aircraft.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
On an airplane, recently, she noticed that when the stewardess came around offering coffee and tea, a surprising number of adults opted for hot chocolate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
David Zucker: My favorite has always been when the stewardess says, "I've never been so scared, and besides, I am 26 and I'm not married."
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2023
After Kathleen and a hippie who’s just joined a commune comes Nadine, an Air France stewardess from Nantes.
From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2023
She looked like a stewardess without the jaunty little cap.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
![]()
“Catch Me If You Can” leans hard into ’60s chic, with an ensemble of Pan Am airline stewardesses and a variety-show orchestra on stage.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2019
"But it was feared that if one of the stewardesses didn't stay aboard, he may not let the passengers off in Denver."
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2019
Some know her as Rabbi Raquel, the much-suffering moral compass of “Transparent” on Amazon; others as one of the campy stewardesses of the Broadway revival of “Boeing-Boeing.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2016
But there are also stewardesses, a donut-shop clerk, a massage therapist and an amateur tennis player.
From Washington Post ● May 23, 2016
None of the stewardesses seemed to have been anywhere that exotic.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
![]()
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.