Word.ws English Dictionary

Selma

/ˈsɛlmə/

Selma proper noun: a female given name.

Proper noun

Selma (countable and uncountable, plural Selmas)

  1. (countable) A female given name.
  2. (countable) A surname.
  3. A community in Nova Scotia, Canada.
  4. A village in Graubünden canton, Switzerland.
  5. A city, the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama; named for James Macpherson's Ossianic poem The Songs of Selma.
    • So when King – who had been in Atlanta for “Bloody Sunday” – telegrammed Parks about returning to Alabama to take part in a third mass march from Selma to Montgomery, her immediate answer was “Why, of course.”2015 March 5, Douglas Brinkley, “Selma’s historic bridge deserves a better name”, in CNN, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2015
  6. A city in Fresno County, California; named for early resident Selma Michelson.
  7. A city in Texas.
  8. A town in North Carolina; named for the city in Alabama.
  9. A town in Indiana.
  10. A census-designated place in Josephine County, Oregon.
  11. A census-designated place in Virginia.
  12. An unincorporated community in Arkansas.
Show 4 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. An unincorporated community in Iowa.
  2. An unincorporated community in Kansas.
  3. An unincorporated community in Missouri; named for the place in the Ossian cycle.
  4. An unincorporated community in Ohio.

Noun

Selma (plural Selmas)

  1. (US, figuratively) A confrontation where authorities brutally repress those wanting civil rights, similar to Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama.
    • Eventually, our place and response may be viewed as a historic turning point, another Selma for the nation and world.2020, Dane Smith, Star Tribune (Minneapolis), "Toward a better patriotism", 3 July 2020
    • Shelby County has become the new Selma.2015, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Workers World, "Black and Brown unity in Alabama", 24 June 2015

Selma meaning in Arabic and Persian

Selma in Arabic

female given name
سَلْمَى salmā

Selma in Persian

female given name
سلما salmâ

Forms of Selma

Proper noun
pluralSelmas
Noun
pluralSelmas

Origin of Selma

Taken to use in the 19th century when similar-sounding names, Elma, Thelma, Alma, Wilma, etc. were in vogue. Perhaps a shortening of Anselma, or from the name of a place in the James Macpherson's Ossian cycle of epic poems, itself from Scottish Gaelic sealladh + math (“good vision”). In some cases perhaps borrowed from Turkish Selma, from Arabic سَلْمَى (salmā).

Words that rhyme with Selma

Questions about Selma

What does Selma mean?
Selma means a female given name.
What is Selma in Arabic?
Selma in Arabic is سَلْمَى (salmā). See Selma meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is Selma?
Selma can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce Selma?
Selma is pronounced /ˈsɛlmə/.

Words near Selma in the dictionary

  1. Selly Oak
  2. Selly Park
  3. Sellye
  4. sellæ turcicæ
  5. SELM
  6. Selma
  7. selma'o
  8. Selman
  9. Selmani
  10. Selmans
  11. Selmas

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Selma (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:

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