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.
An aspiring pastry chef navigates love while trying to achieve the perfect madeleine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
As Van Gogh had his sunflowers and Proust his madeleine, so Neil Diamond had a bottle of cheap Canadian booze.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026
They are also kind of the perfect mix between a macaroon and a madeleine.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 3, 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
Sean McCann - the younger brother of Madeleine McCann - will swim for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Saturday.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
“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
It is the first time that the play's co-director, Madeleine Kluje, has worked on a Shakespeare play.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 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
At night, in the dark before sleep, he talked about 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
Maybe I’ll taste more Proustian madeleines, and maybe I’ll cry more.
From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2021
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.
