madam

American  

[mad-uhm] / ˈmæd əm /

noun

mesdames, plural madams plural

1. (often initial capital letter) a polite term of address to a woman, originally used only to a woman of rank or authority.

   Madam President; May I help you, madam?

2. the woman in charge of a household.

   Is the madam at home?

3. the woman in charge of a house of prostitution.

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madam British  

/ ˈmædəm /

noun

1. a polite term of address for a woman, esp one considered to be of relatively high social status

2. a woman who runs a brothel

3. informal a precocious or pompous little girl

4. informal the lady of the house

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• madams
  plural
• mesdames
  plural

Etymology

Origin of madam

1250–1300; Middle English madame < Old French, originally ma dame my lady; see dame

Explanation

Madam is a very formal way to address a woman, particularly an older or married woman. A waiter at a fancy restaurant might say, "Your table is ready, madam." If a stranger calls a woman madam, he probably sees her as a mature, dignified person. If the woman is younger, she is more likely to be called "miss," and sometimes madam is abbreviated as "ma'am." Another kind of madam is a woman who owns or runs a house of prostitution. Madam comes from the French phrase ma dame, "my lady."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

madam madams mesdames

While on a call with me last week, he rang off saying "the madam" was calling.

From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2024

“Poor Things” features Bella, a reanimated woman who has to invent her life, and her guideposts are a prostitute, a brothel madam and a former actress.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2023

Speaker Frank: A simple matter of coordination, madam.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 21, 2023

Michael Billington of The Guardian, reviewing her there, wrote, “Carlin Glynn endows the madam with the refined good breeding and slight romantic forlornness of the head of a very classy, fee-paying American girls’ school.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2023

"I cannot permit mice in my hotel, madam," he said to my grandmother.

From "The Witches" by Roald Dahl

He played queens, courtesans, goddesses and brothel madams with a studied grace.

From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2026

Black History Tours from Off the Mall Tours: Off the Mall Tours offers a collection of walking tours covering subjects as esoteric as Civil War madams and the birth of D.C. punk.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2023

While Stabler busies himself with mobsters and madams, the long-running “Special Victims Unit,” whose fictional plots often riff on real-world headlines, has become a lugubrious public-service announcement on modern policing.

From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2022

Thank you for coming to Rhode Island, sirs and madams.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 28, 2018

“And please don’t tell anyone I said so, sirs and madams, but if I were you, I’d hide that bird out of sight. The conductors won’t like it, first-class tickets or not. ”

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs

Ladies and gentlemen, messieurs et mesdames, le cheeseburger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2024

But from a Scottish perspective this now has the appearance of a bizarre game of high stakes poker between mesdames May and Sturgeon.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2017

And Paul H. Canada, the costume designer, wickedly dresses Molière’s mesdames in cartoon couture.

From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2014

Je vous prie d'agréer, mesdames, messieurs, l'expression de mes sentiments distingués", while across the Channel we'll be concluding our correspondence with "Laters, yeah?

From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2013

Even so, the social columnists still did not write about his wife’s dresses when he and she attended the opera, the way they described the nightly couture of mesdames Palmer, Pullman, and Armour.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Related Words

• madame