ladylike
Americanadjective
-
like a lady.
- Synonyms:
- courteous, well-mannered, well-bred
-
befitting a lady.
in a ladylike manner.
- Synonyms:
- courteous, well-mannered, well-bred
adjective
-
like or befitting a lady in manners and bearing; refined and fastidious
-
derogatory (of a man) effeminate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ladylike
Explanation
Behavior that seems appropriate for a polite, civilized girl or woman is sometimes called ladylike. A little girl might be scolded for not having ladylike manners if she puts her feet up on the table at a fancy restaurant. The adjective ladylike is an old-fashioned way to describe how a dignified or "proper" woman acts. Your grandmother might praise your best friend's ladylike demeanor, not knowing that in her spare time she drives a demolition derby car and is usually covered with mud. Before ladylike was first used in the sixteenth century, the equivalent adjective was ladily.
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.
Her mother, Anne, was a stickler for “pure” and ladylike behavior, which cramped Alice’s imagination.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2024
"I was raised to be very ladylike and considerate of others, and respectable. My mother definitely would have liked me to go into more a feminine field," she says.
From BBC ● May 17, 2023
Martha was willing to shuck her ladylike trappings — to be ugly and to say ugly things — in ways the actor evidently is not.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 22, 2022
Her critique of ladylike behavior was delivered while modeling it at the same time — “back straight, chin up,” just as the poem describes, and shod in Louboutins.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2022
And instead there was something ladylike and delicate about her that was hard to point out.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
