Word.ws English Dictionary

marquise

/mɑː(ɹ)ˈkiːz/

marquise noun: a marchioness, especially one who is French.

marquise: a marchioness, especially one who is French
Image: Wiener Edelstein Zentrum, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

marquise (plural marquises)

  1. (historical) A marchioness, especially one who is French.
    • In 1986, she appeared in the stage adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuse opposite Alan Rickman, playing the manipulative marquise whose icy demeanour seems to have clung to Duncan's image like frost ever since, even though it is so at odds with her warmth in person.2009 February 14, Emine Saner, “'She was a mass of contradictions - we all are'”, in The Guardian
    Synonyms:
    marchioness
  2. A marquee.
  3. An oval cut gemstone with pointed ends.
  4. A canopy, usually of glass, set as a shelter over a door opening onto a terrace or pavement.
    • The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
  5. (historical) A style of parasol of the mid-19th century.
  6. A rich dessert made with dark chocolate, butter, sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, and cream.

Synonyms of marquise

Forms of marquise

pluralmarquises

Plural of marquise: marquises

Origin of marquise

Borrowed from French marquise.

Words formed from marquise

Questions about marquise

What does marquise mean?
Marquise means a marchioness, especially one who is French.
What part of speech is marquise?
Marquise is a noun.
How do you pronounce marquise?
Marquise is pronounced /mɑː(ɹ)ˈkiːz/.
What is the plural of marquise?
The plural of marquise is marquises.

Words near marquise in the dictionary

  1. Marquis reagents
  2. marquisate
  3. marquisates
  4. marquisdom
  5. marquisdoms
  6. marquise
  7. marquises
  8. marquisess
  9. marquisesses
  10. marquisette
  11. marquisettes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: marquise (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-marquise.wav.

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