goddess
Americannoun
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goddesses
plural
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a female god or deity.
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Also called Triple Goddess. Goddess. (in Neopaganism) a triune female deity whose individual forms represent the different phases of life and growth.
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a woman of extraordinary beauty and charm.
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a greatly admired or adored woman.
a domestic goddess who hosts lavish dinner parties.
noun
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a female divinity
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a woman who is adored or idealized, esp by a man
Gender
See -ess .
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of goddess
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English; see origin at god , -ess
Explanation
In mythology, a goddess is a female god. Aphrodite, for example, is the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Many religions have female deities or goddesses, including the ancient Romans and Greeks, traditional African religions, and Hinduism. Some well-known goddesses include Juno, Gaia, and Lakshmi. If you know a woman who seems as beautiful, powerful, or amazing as a god, you can also call her a goddess. Using the word for mortals first came into fashion in the late 16th century.
Vocabulary lists containing goddess
World Religions
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Reading: Literature - Mythology - Introductory
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The Stone Age - Middle School and High School
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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:
The largest sportswear brand on the planet, named after the ancient Greek goddess of victory, has been losing of late.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Families perform a seven to nine-day ritual of bathing and offering cool water and neem leaves to the local disease goddess.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
I arrived at Longshan Temple, in the old part of western Taipei, on a Saturday, unaware that it was the anniversary of the enlightenment of Guanyin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
She went on to become an icon, legend, goddess and what they were calling her all over social media, the earth angel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
They seem to watch my approach with an immemorial regard, as stoic as the goddess said to dwell among them.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
He played queens, courtesans, goddesses and brothel madams with a studied grace.
From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2026
Millennial women, raised on platitudes that one person could change the world, really tried—and some of them, thank the goddesses, succeeded.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026
On television it was, therefore, an age of mothers — wise domestic goddesses whose energies were turned largely toward the raising of children.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2025
Exquisite, also, is a grouping of several soft-paste-biscuit tabletop figurines—classical and idyllic scenes depicting lovers, children, goddesses and bathers, all designed by Boucher.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2025
In Asgard goddesses were not as important as they were in Olympus.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
