first lady

American  

[furst leee-dee] / ˈfɜrst ˈlei di /

noun

• first ladies
  plural

1. Often First Lady the wife of the U.S. president, or the wife of a current governor or mayor.

2. Often First Lady the wife of the head of any country.

   the First Lady of Brazil.

3. the foremost woman in any art, profession, or the like.

   Helen Hayes, the first lady of American theater.

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first lady British  

noun

1. (in the US) the wife or official hostess of a chief executive, esp of a state governor or a president

2. a woman considered to be at the top of her profession or art

   the first lady of jazz

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• first ladies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of first lady

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

first lady

Han Hak-ja, 83, was accused of providing luxury items, including a designer handbag, to former first lady Kim Keon Hee while her husband, Yoon Suk Yeol, was president, in an attempt to secure policy favours.

From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026

“The first lady doesn’t like these types of things,” someone close to the White House told Semafor this week.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

But the notice for early renewal of licence from the FCC came a day after ABC's late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about first lady Melania Trump.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

The VC-25A planes are painted white and light blue, a design by Raymond Loewy picked by former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy that has been on the Air Force’s presidential jets since the 1960s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

No one realized that the bite of an infected mosquito had sickened the first lady.

From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow