countess
Americannoun
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countesses
plural
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the wife or widow of a count in the nobility of Continental Europe or of an earl in the British peerage.
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a woman having the rank of a count or earl in her own right.
noun
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the wife or widow of a count or earl
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a woman of the rank of count or earl
Gender
What's the difference between countess and count? See -ess.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of countess
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English c(o)untesse, from Anglo-French; see origin at count 2, -ess
Explanation
A countess is a noblewoman, equal in status to an earl or a count. Countesses either inherit the title when they're born or gain it by marrying a noble. If a woman marries the Earl of Sandwich, she'll become a countess, although people directly addressing them will call them "Lord" and "Lady." Marrying a viscount or count is another way to gain the title of countess. The idea of such a title, and the word itself, may seem old-fashioned, but there are many countesses living today in England and Scotland. The word countess comes from count and its Latin root, comes, "companion to the emperor."
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:
In 2017, Epstein introduced Barrett to Nicole Junkermann, a German countess and entrepreneur who Epstein said in an email wanted to invest $100 million through JPMorgan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
Huppert, 72, plays the titular countess, inspired by the Renaissance-era Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian noble who was accused of numerous murders and vampiric tendencies.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
As an American woman who married into the British aristocracy back in 2004, the countess knows firsthand the challenge of slipping between two cultures.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2025
When she meets the countess and Blitzkopf the parrot, the magical stories she hears helps her to solve a painful mystery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2024
As Mutti told her the story about working in the zoo, about Papi being away fighting in Russia, and about our escape with Marlene from Dresden, the countess listened intently.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
Yesterday’s countesses lacked those freedoms and were bound to serve as propriety’s standard bearers.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2025
He jived and twisted with Gloria Vanderbilt and a succession of foreign countesses.
From MSNBC ● Nov. 15, 2017
Malloy saw his own artsy social circle in the novel’s princes and countesses.
From The New Yorker ● May 5, 2017
Marquises and countesses pose in faux-rustic settings, their gray curly hair gathered into rat tails.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 12, 2016
"I suppose, as usual, Fane," he continued, "you left at the very least twelve dozen German princesses, Italian marchesas, and French countesses dying for you?"
From Beatrice Boville and Other Stories by Ouida
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.
