grande dame
Americannoun
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a usually elderly woman of dignified or aristocratic bearing.
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a woman who is the doyenne of a specific field.
a grande dame of the American theater.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grande dame
1735–45; < French: literally, great lady
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.
Today’s glass and steel tower over the bones of what was once the grande dame of colonial luxury, the Hong Kong Hotel.
From Salon • Jul. 12, 2025
In the summer of 1974, I was working as a waiter at the White Elephant, the grande dame of Nantucket hotels, a rambling gray-shingled pile that sits right on the island’s harbor.
From New York Times • May 26, 2024
One such crime took place at the city's most graceful grande dame, the 233-room Imperial Hotel, in 1897.
From BBC • Jul. 8, 2023
In this underground classic, a screenwriter witnesses the hopes, confusions and corruptions of fame, from an aspiring starlet to an over-the-hill grande dame whose heirs await her demise.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2023
To be the grande dame of the beautiful, terrible past.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" 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.
