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Showing results for demimondaine. Search instead for demi-mondaine.

demimondaine

American  
[dem-ee-mon-deyn, duh-mee-mawn-den] / ˌdɛm i mɒnˈdeɪn, də mi mɔ̃ˈdɛn /

noun

demimondaines plural
  1. a woman of the demimonde.


adjective

  1. of or relating to the demimonde.

demimondaine British  
/ ˌdɛmɪˈmɒndeɪn, dəmimɔ̃dɛn /

noun

  1. a woman of the demimonde

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of demimondaine

1890–95; < French, equivalent to demimonde demimonde + -aine feminine adj. suffix < Latin -āna -an

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:

A demimondaine with a shocking reputation, by the time of her death, in 1954, Colette was an institution, the first French woman of letters ever honored with a state funeral.

From New York Times Feb. 6, 2023

Oren, more interested in small gestures than gleaming sound, begins the first scene with bumptious brasses and a breakneck tempo that make the room spin, spelling disaster for Verdi’s hard-partying demimondaine.

From New York Times Jun. 30, 2022

To many another princely sprig, millionaire, archduke and demimondaine of the fey '90s, Maxim's in Paris' rue Royale was the most elegant bistro in Europe, the gaudiest symbol of the mauve decadence.

From Time Magazine Archive

Born in Paris in 1868, Jane Avril was the bastard daughter of an Italian nobleman and a morbid demimondaine whose cruelty for a while sent Jane to an asylum.

From Time Magazine Archive

There was no interesting toil to relieve their unhappy lot, and no distinction was made of the insane, the law-breaking criminal, and the wretched streetwalker or demimondaine.

From Orphans of the Storm by MacMahon, Henry

He turns pro, pilfering privileged homes and allying himself with a series of outcasts: a spoiled priest, anarchists, and demimondaines who find him criminally good-looking.

From Time Magazine Archive

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