Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use duchess in a sentence

24 example sentences · noun, verb

Duchess means the wife or widow of a duke. Example: “It is of great importance that you act in a respectful manner towards the duke and duchess.”

Examples of duchess by meaning

nounThe wife or widow of a duke.

  • The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have ended months of intense speculation by announcing they are expecting their first child, but were forced to share their news earlier than hoped because of the Duchess's admission to hospital on Monday.2012 December 3, Caroline Davies, The Guardian

verbTo court or curry favour for political or business advantage; to flatter obsequiously.

  • On arrival in England he was “duchessed” in a manner that no Australian Prime Minister has ever been “duchessed” before or since.1956, John Thomas Lang, I Remember, page 64
  • Those wogs you′ve been duchessing at Ethnic Affairs have got nothing on the culture vultures.1996, Shane Maloney, The Brush-Off, published 2003, page 46
  • The traditional version of Hughes′ decision to introduce conscription gives central importance to his visit to London in April 1916 where it is alleged he was duchessed and deceived concerning recruitment figures.2004, Humphrey McQueen, A New Britannia, Fourth Edition, page 66

More sentences with duchess

  • It is of great importance that you act in a respectful manner towards the duke and duchess.From the entry respectful
  • The duchess wore a valuable string of pearls around her neck.From the entry string of pearls
  • The duchess sailed haughtily out of the room.From the entry sail
  • The duchess wore a rope of pearls to the soirée.From the entry rope
  • The duchess was dripping with jewels.From the entry drip
  • He fastens on the absolutes of ascriptive identity; the duchess, on the earnables of achieved character.1996, Frank Whigham, Seizures of the Will in Early Modern English Drama, page 201. From the entry earnable
  • There was his duchess, wearing pearls and a fathered velvet gown.1936 June 5, Margaret Bell Houston, “Gypsy Weather”, in The Lincoln Star, volume 34, page 2. From the entry threemasted
  • Special cases, such as duke : duchess, master : mistress, thief : thievess demand a separate mention.[1933, Leonard Bloomfield, “Morphologic Types”, in Language, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 238. From the entry thievess
  • It’s not every one who can distinguish between a demi and a duchess.1923, Agatha Christie, The Murder on the Links. From the entry demi
  • She may be a duchess, and a great lady, but she is something better than that besides.1906 January, Beatrix Demarest Lloyd, “The Outsider”, in The Smart Set, volume 18, number 1, section IX, page 38, column 1. From the entry Altess
  • Think you're a regular duchess, you do, eh?2010, Emily Hendrickson, The Fashionable Spy. From the entry dubber
  • “Marks & Sparks,” chirped the duchess, uttering the nickname all British folk use to identify the famous low-price store.1988 March 4, Betty Goodwin, “Fashion 88: Fergie [i.e., Sarah, Duchess of York]’s Look in L.A.: Flair Without Fuss”, in Los Angeles Times…. From the entry Marks & Sparks
  • I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe.1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company…. From the entry draggle-tailed
  • Well, sir, in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party.1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company…. From the entry kerbstone
  • Astarion would make an amazing duchess.2024 June 16, Healthy_Breakfast_24, Reddit. From the entry Wyllstarion
  • She had a right of entrée to the Castle now as prospective co-mother-in-law with the duchess, and made the most of it.1912, Sarah Grand, Adnam's Orchard, pages 508–509. From the entry co-mother-in-law
  • Duchess Meg soon forgot this unworthy wedding-gift, such was her rapture in the other, the so august, appurtenances of her new life.1911 October 26, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company…. From the entry appurtenance
  • From the duchess, who was grandmother to three of the girls, we would hear lengthy discourses on genealogy and the manner in which all of our families interlinked.2016, Lucy Worsley, Eliza Rose, →ISBN. From the entry buxomest
  • If Valentin's quick eye had caught a tall apple-woman, a tall grenadier, or even a tolerably tall duchess, he might have arrested them on the spot.1911 [1910], G. K. Chesterton, “The Blue Cross”, in The Innocence of Father Brown, Curtis Publishing Company, page 4. From the entry market gardener
  • And they threw their luck in with the late duke of Brittany when he rose up against me, and the count likes to claim he was betrothed to the duchess.2020, Robin Lafevers, Igniting Darkness, page 234. From the entry throw one's luck in with

Meaning of duchess

  1. noun The wife or widow of a duke.
  2. noun The female ruler of a duchy.
  3. verb To court or curry favour for political or business advantage; to flatter obsequiously.

Full definition of duchess

Questions about duchess in a sentence

How do you use duchess in a sentence?
Duchess is used as a noun and verb. For example: “It is of great importance that you act in a respectful manner towards the duke and duchess.”
What is a short sentence with duchess?
“Astarion would make an amazing duchess.”
What does duchess mean?
Duchess means the wife or widow of a duke.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: duchess (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use duchess in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/duchess. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.