Madison Avenue

American  

noun

1. a street in New York City that is a center of the advertising and public relations industries and that has become a symbol of their attitudes, methods, and practices.

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Madison Avenue British  

noun

1. a street in New York City: a centre of American advertising and public-relations firms and a symbol of their attitudes and methods

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Madison Avenue Cultural  

1. A street in Manhattan on which many advertising and public relations firms have offices.

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“Madison Avenue hype” carries the connotation of misrepresentation or deliberate dishonesty.

The name of the street is often used to refer to the high-pressure techniques of the advertising business.

Example Sentences

While others window-shopped for inspiration he was his own adman, pushing imagery that would become as recognizable as any logo dreamt up by a Madison Avenue firm.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

During her long tenure on the beat, she’s covered the inner workings of Madison Avenue and companies such as WPP, Omnicom, and Publicis.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026

In May, his firm agreed to pay $1.1 billion for an officer tower on Madison Avenue.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025

Because for every luxury brand outpost on Madison Avenue, there’s a small business that specializes in dollhouse furniture or German meats or food and drink books.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 15, 2025

At one of these mutual stops Claudia instructed Jamie to wait for her on the corner of Madison Avenue and 80th Street, for there they would turn left to Fifth Avenue.

From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg