madam
Americannoun
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mesdames,
plural
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madams
plural
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(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?
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the woman in charge of a household.
Is the madam at home?
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the woman in charge of a house of prostitution.
noun
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a polite term of address for a woman, esp one considered to be of relatively high social status
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a woman who runs a brothel
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informal a precocious or pompous little girl
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informal the lady of the house
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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."
Vocabulary lists containing madam
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:
McBride thanked the chair, calling them "madam," and began to speak before Keating demanded that McBride be addressed correctly.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2025
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
“Ah! You come with madam today? Good afternoon, madam.”
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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
“They will be disorientated, but we now need to see how capable the madams are at keeping order,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2016
The end notes in “The Days Trilogy” build on references to everything from a family doctor to the madams of Baltimore to stories from his world travels.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 17, 2014
It’s been a struggle, believe me—don’t think I’ve had an easy time of it, because the madams of these places don’t like to deal with women.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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
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.
