stewardess
Americannoun
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a woman flight attendant.
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a woman who attends to the comfort of passengers on a ship, train, or bus.
noun
Gender
See -ess.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of stewardess
1625–35 for earlier sense “female steward”; 1930–35 stewardess for def. 1; steward + -ess
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.
See Examples For:
She took to the stage dressed as a stewardess, dancing across luggage carousels and navigating male dancers dressed as baggage handlers.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026
On an airplane, recently, she noticed that when the stewardess came around offering coffee and tea, a surprising number of adults opted for hot chocolate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
David Zucker: My favorite has always been when the stewardess says, "I've never been so scared, and besides, I am 26 and I'm not married."
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2023
“The head stewardess was actually having trouble breathing at some point,” another passenger, Greg Everett, said.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2023
The stewardess is checking out Ma's sari and the red teep on her forehead.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
Other stewardesses and I laugh about how lucky we were to be in the industry at that time.
From New York Times ● Feb. 19, 2024
In 1963, eight stewardesses held a news conference in New York’s Commodore Hotel.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 29, 2022
“Catch Me If You Can” leans hard into ’60s chic, with an ensemble of Pan Am airline stewardesses and a variety-show orchestra on stage.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2019
"But it was feared that if one of the stewardesses didn't stay aboard, he may not let the passengers off in Denver."
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2019
None of the stewardesses seemed to have been anywhere that exotic.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
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.
