contessa
Americannoun
-
contesse,
plural
-
contessas
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of contessa
First recorded in 1815–20;
Explanation
Contessa is the title given to an Italian noblewoman whose husband is (or was) a count. She can also hold the title on her own. If Count Dracula had been a woman and Italian, he would have been Contessa Dracula! The word contessa is borrowed from Italian, but its similarity to the English word countess is pretty obvious. Europe and Britain had different titles for their nobles, and a European count had the same rank as a British earl. So in Britain, a countess is the wife or widow of an earl. For those not familiar with this history, it can be confusing to keep all these ranks straight! In Italy, contessa is also used as a title of respect for any lady.
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:
Asking what his job title would be, he met with derision: “What title? Call yourself contessa if you want to!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
A contessa has her eyes on a surfer whose beach faces a threat from imposing bodybuilders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2020
In short order, the contessa and her stepdaughter Atta fell under his spell.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 8, 2018
The dishes featured on certainly look delectable—fun, flavor-packed, and achievable at home—but the show is as much about Ina Garten, the contessa herself, as it is about the food.
From Slate ● Jun. 21, 2013
I had seen Chloe Marsh earlier in the day—very pretty, with a face shaped like a soft heart and with a delicate nose and lips like a contessa in a Renaissance portrait.
From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson
And the clerks treat even commoners like contessas.
From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2013
Then there are people who bring to the eye not a glint of fury but the glaze of fatigue: marchesas, contessas and baronets, Weathermen, Gabors, psychologists with pipes, Latin American colonels.
From Time Magazine Archive
To jaded Rome's courtiers, cardinals and contesse, young Benjamin West seemed the essence of Jean Jacques Rousseau's "natural man."
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
