arbitress
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does arbitress mean? Arbitress is a word for a woman who is an arbitrator—an independent, impartial third party that works to settle a dispute between two opposing sides, often by making a decision that they both agree to. This process is called arbitration. To act as an arbitrator is to arbitrate. These terms are especially used in the context of negotiations between businesses and labor unions as well as in international disputes. Many once widely-used gender-specific terms that identify a particular professional person as a woman (such as stewardess) are now much less commonly used. The word arbitress is particularly rare. It’s possible that a woman may use the term arbitress to identify her position or profession, but this is not common. Using the word to refer to a woman who is an arbitrator is likely to be seen as offensive due to implying that her gender is somehow relevant to her role.
Gender
What's the difference between arbitress and arbiter? See -ess.
Etymology
Origin of arbitress
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French arbitresse, equivalent to arbitre arbit(e)r + -esse -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.
I had no answer to offer but that I had made her the arbitress of my fate, and she was welcome to do with me as was her sovereign will.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 357, June, 1845 by Various
It is the arbitress in the choice of good and evil and is under no obligation to render an account of its doings to any one....
From England and Germany by William Morris Hughes
Come forth, then, injured simplicity;—of your own cause you shall be now the arbitress.
From John Bull The Englishman's Fireside: A Comedy, in Five Acts by George Colman
She,—who had been the arbitress of the fates of nations, whose commands none dared dispute or disobey, and at whose frown numberless sycophants and dependents trembled,—was now about to face the dread enemy of mankind!
From Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume I (of 2) Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess Charlotte by Lady Anne Hamilton
Well it becomes the favorite of fortune, The royal arbitress of others' weal, The world's desire, and England's deity, Self-poised, self-governed, clear and firm to gaze Where others close their aching eyes, to dream.
From Life Without and Life Within or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and poems. by Margaret Fuller
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.
