lady
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A woman of the peerage in Britain.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
laydeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈleɪdi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
polite or used by children
A woman of the peerage in Britain
polite or used by children
A woman to whom the particular homage of a knight was paid; a woman to whom one is devoted or bound.
polite or used by childrenattributivewith a professional title
Who is a woman.
polite or used by children
An aristocratic title for a woman; the wife of a lord and/or a woman who holds the position in her own right; a title for a peeress, the wife of a peer or knight, and the daughters and daughters-in-law of certain peers.
polite or used by children
A woman of refinement
“A chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady.”
polite or used by children
A polite name for any woman
“A nice lady at the library helped me.”
verb
To address as "lady".
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A woman of the peerage in Britain
Used this way, lady is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- noblewoman , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Woman / aristocraticnoun
“A chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady.”
Politenoun
“A nice lady at the library helped me.”
More ways to use lady
- “A nice lady at the library helped me.”noun
- “A chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A festival commemorating the announcement of the Incarnation by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.
Most widely grown fern of the genus Athyrium for its delicate foliage.
A girl or young woman with whom a man is romantically involved.
According to legend she rode naked through Coventry in order to persuade her husband not to tax the townspeople so heavily.
A lady appointed to attend to a queen or princess.
A man who takes advantage of women.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A maid who is a lady's personal attendant.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.