soubrette
Americannoun
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a maidservant or lady's maid in a play, opera, or the like, especially one displaying coquetry, pertness, and a tendency to engage in intrigue.
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an actress playing such a role.
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any lively or pert young woman.
noun
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a minor female role in comedy, often that of a pert lady's maid
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any pert or flirtatious girl
Other Word Forms
- soubrettish adjective
Etymology
Origin of soubrette
1745–55; < French: lady's maid < Provençal soubreto, derivative of soubret affected, ultimately derivative of Old Provençal sobrar < Latin superāre to be above
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.
At the Milwaukee Rep, I did a play called “Cat Among the Pigeons,” which is a Feydeau farce, and I played the ingénue in that, or the soubrette.
From The New Yorker
The other lady of the ensemble, a svelte twilight soubrette, objects to my having, so to speak, photographed her in her old housecoat.
From Literature
Poetry, the soubrette declares, is “an inflammation of the mental bursa/Where verse becomes your vice — and vice-a-versa.”
From New York Times
“You have your soubrettes, your tall dancers and so forth — you wouldn’t put her in ‘Diamonds,’ you would put her in ‘Rubies.’
From New York Times
French maids and majorettes, soubrettes and harlequins: With such a cast of characters, the ballets danced by the Suzanne Farrell Ballet shared a retro look and an abundance of whimsy.
From Washington Post
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.
