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

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Etymology

Origin of madam

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

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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

Martha Plimpton, never not great, plays Faye, a madam for whom Cathy works; and Zoe Phillips makes an impression in her scattered scenes as Abra Bacon, who’ll date Aron but feels connected to Cal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Speaker Frank: A simple matter of coordination, madam.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 21, 2023

I asked the hotel manager whether there were damages to be paid; he told me, 'No madam, nothing was broken, everything was simply disassembled'.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2023

Uncle Clifford is a taskmistress, but she minds her dancers less in the way of a madam than a mother hen.

From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2022

“The chutes will be opened, madam, when I feel like it,” growled the commander.

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer

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

Occasionally, Granny and I had to jump off the pavement to make way for madams and their poodles and English toy spaniels.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

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

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