(initial capital letter) Madam; Lady: a Portuguese title prefixed to a woman's given name.
(in Portuguese-speaking countries) a lady or gentlewoman.
(initial capital letter) Madam; Lady: a Spanish title prefixed to a woman's given name.
(in Spanish-speaking countries) a lady or gentlewoman.
1615–25; < Portuguese < Latin domina, feminine of dominus
1615–25; < Spanish < Latin domina, feminine of dominus
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She looked more the part of a Mexican doña as she dawdled around her tiny apartment on a chilly Friday morning not long before coronavirus became a national crisis.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2020
Today you come back from a run to find her on the stoop, talking to la doña.
From The New Yorker • Apr. 16, 2012
"You must excuse him, doña," the woman apologizes.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
If the doña insists on going, she can take that dirt road up ahead and then cross over onto the road that is paved all the way to the coffee barns.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Each one claims to be guarding it for the doña.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
