a small shell-shaped cake made of flour, eggs, sugar, and butter and baked in a mold.
something that triggers memories or nostalgia: in allusion to a nostalgic passage in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.
1835–45; < French, earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, after the female given name; the attribution of the recipe to an 18th-century cook named Madeleine Pau(l)mier is unsubstantiated
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For him, pinball games unlock memories, much as the madeleine did for Proust.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
At least to this South Asian American, they were as vivid and powerful as any madeleine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2024
GERWIG: In “Remembrance of Things Past,” in “Swann’s Way,” he is literally thrown back into his childhood through the taste of the madeleine.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2023
Where, for instance, the first recipe for the iconic French madeleine cookie was published in 1758, the chocolate chip cookie was invented nearly two centuries later by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2023
She offered the squirrel a morsel of petite madeleine.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
“The Nolans project is a major step forward for Australia’s rare earths industry,” said Australia’s Resources Minister Madeleine King.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
One was former Amnesty International and UN researcher Madeleine Penman, who investigated disappearances in Tamaulipas between 2015 and 2019.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
“There’s a lot of work to be done on how we do collaborate and work together to develop this industry,” Madeleine King, Australia’s mining minister, said Feb. 4.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
Madeleine was built in Germany and transported to the UK in parts.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2026
He only wanted them to know who he was, who he really was, so they would let him see Madeleine.
From "Orbiting Jupiter" by Gary D. Schmidt
A French grandmother hops aboard to teach passengers how to make apple-packed tarte Tatin and madeleines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Why deal with that when the fruit-filled madeleines at Le Comptoir, the shop at the Ritz hotel, and berry-jeweled tartelettes at Tapisserie, from the Septime gang, offer excellence without the drama?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026
On Jan. 21, lucky diners can get their hands on red envelopes stuffed with everything from a new year wish to gift cards for $25, madeleines or soft serve ice cream.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2023
They muse over certain passages and share echoes with their daily lives: the enduring memory of a late husband’s smile, or a hospital visit where madeleines were on the menu.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2022
It chattered excitedly as Cassiopeia fed it petites madeleines out of her reticule.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
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.
