demimondaine

American  

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

noun

plural

demimondaines

1. a woman of the demimonde.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the demimonde.

demimondaine British  

/ ˌdɛmɪˈmɒndeɪn, dəmimɔ̃dɛn /

noun

1. a woman of the demimonde

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Etymology

Origin of demimondaine

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

Example Sentences

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

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

At whatever age, Kim Stanley proves a gifted actress, but she seems about as Gallic as cornflakes and as demimondaine as Betsy Ross.

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