madam
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
maduhmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmædəm
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
A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
The mistress of a household.
A woman of refinement
Alternative letter-case form of madam.
colloquial
A conceited or quarrelsome girl.
verb
transitive
To address as "madam".
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
Used this way, madam 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
- Slightly formal
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
A lady, a woman.
A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
A polite name for any woman.
A woman of refinement.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to address as "madam"
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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.