Word.ws English Dictionary

madame

/məˈdæm//məˈdæm/

madame is the alternative form of madam.

Meaning of madam

Noun

madam (plural madams or mesdames)

  1. A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
    • Mrs Grey wondered if the outfit she was trying on made her look fat. The sales assistant just said, “It suits you, madam”.
  2. The mistress of a household.
    Synonyms:
    dame, woman, lady, matron, mistress
  3. (colloquial) A conceited or quarrelsome girl.
    • Selina kept pushing and shoving during musical chairs. The nursery school teacher said she was a bad-tempered little madam.
  4. (slang) A woman who runs a brothel, particularly one that specializes in finding prostitutes for rich and important clients.
    • After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.
  5. (India, derogatory, slang) A hated or contemptuous woman; used as a general term of abuse

See all 8 meanings of madam

Noun capitalized: Madame

Madame (plural Madames or Mesdames)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of madame.
  2. A title equivalent to Mrs. or Ms., used for French-speaking women and (by custom) certain other individuals. It is abbreviated as Mme.
    • The Queen welcomed President and Madame De Gaulle.
    • Soong Mei-ling is often known as Madame Chiang Kai-Shek.

Forms of madame

pluralmadames
pluralmesdames
alternative formMadame
pluralMadames
pluralMesdames

Origin of madame

Borrowed from French madame, from Old French ma dame (“my lady”). Doublet of madam and Madonna.

Words formed from madame

Phrases with madame

Words that rhyme with madame

47 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about madame

What does madame mean?
Madame means a title equivalent to Mrs. or Ms., used for French-speaking women and (by custom) certain other individuals. It is abbreviated as Mme.
What is madame the alternative form of?
Madame is the alternative form of madam.
What part of speech is madame?
Madame is a noun.
How do you pronounce madame?
Madame is pronounced /məˈdæm/ (UK).
What is the plural of madame?
The plural of madame is madames.

Words near madame in the dictionary

  1. Madam and Eve
  2. Madam President
  3. Madam Presidents
  4. Madamba
  5. Madambas
  6. madame
  7. Madame Berthe's mouse lemur
  8. Madame Berthe's mouse lemurs
  9. Madame Bishop
  10. Madame Jeanette
  11. Madame Mao

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: madame (page history and authors); Madame (page history and authors); madam (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-madame.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-madame.wav.

Cite this entry: “madame.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/madame. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.