damsel
Americannoun
-
damsels
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of damsel
1150–1200; Middle English damisel < Anglo-French ( Old French damoisele ) < Vulgar Latin *dominicella, equivalent to Latin domin ( a ) lady ( see dame) + -i- -i- + -cella feminine diminutive suffix
Explanation
A young, unmarried woman is a damsel. If you've ever seen a young girl being chased by a rabid dog, then you've witnessed a damsel in distress! The word damsel is a shortened version of the French word, mademoiselle, which is what the French call a young woman who is not married — like the word miss in English. Damsel was originally a word reserved for noblewomen — the rich and fabulous. Nowadays even regular unmarried Janes can be referred to as damsel, though you're really most likely to come across the word damsel being rescued by a prince in a fairytale.
Vocabulary lists containing damsel
Holding Up the Universe
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"Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
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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:
Above us swallows dart through the air, Graeme takes a picture of a damsel fly and the brook to our side continues to babble.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2024
The minute Furiosa starts gnawing on her captor’s fuel line, though, Miller makes it clear that this wee captive is no damsel in distress.
From New York Times ● May 15, 2024
Brash, violent protector Buffy turns to into a delicate damsel and stays in distress for much of the episode.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2023
But also, it has a lot of humor surrounding it, because it's that damsel in distress kind of character.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2023
For all I know, he’s off somewhere saving some other damsel in distress with the promise of marriage someday after he’s collected his reward money!
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
So, Ichikawa played beautiful damsels, as well as witches, samurai and even animals throughout his career.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
One of the ovals’ long-tressed damsels is encountering a rearing leopard, and the other seems unfazed by a yellow serpent.
From New York Times ● May 7, 2023
In Act 2, they reprise the song, this time as the husbands of two of those damsels, Rapunzel and Cinderella.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2023
"I got myself into action films because I didn't believe that women were damsels in distress. Their stories need to be told correctly," Yeoh says.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2023
In Gran’s stories, damsels in distress were always trapped in towers.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
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.
