grande dame

English

WOTD – 28 December 2024

Etymology

The English actress Dame Maggie Smith, a grande dame (sense 2) of the stage and screen.

Borrowed from French grande dame, from grande (the feminine form of grand (“great, grand”)) + dame (“lady”). Doublet of grandam.

The plural form grandes dames is borrowed from French grandes dames.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): (both singular and plural) /ˌɡɹɒ̃ ˈdɑːm/, /ɡɹɒn(d)-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): (both singular and plural) /ˌɡɹɑnd ˈdɑm/, /ˌɡɹænd-/
• Rhymes: -ɑːm, -ɑm

Noun

grande dame (plural grandes dames) (also attributive)

1. A woman who is high-ranking, socially prominent, or has a dignified character, especially one who is advanced in age and haughty.

   Synonyms: dowager, (socially prominent woman) doyenne, grande madame

   • a. 1856 (date written), Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter VIII, in A[rthur] B[ell] Nicholls, editor, The Professor, a Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published 1857, →OCLC, page 140:

     In general the Continental, or at least the Belgian old women permit themselves a license of manners, speech, and aspect, such as our venerable grand-dames would recoil from as absolutely disreputable, […]

   • 1865, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], “Feathery Seeds that were Freighted with Fruit of the Future”, in Strathmore: A Romance […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 219:

     You only 'make love' languidly to some grande dame, who blinds him with sandal-wood and stifles him in lace; […]

   • 1883, Charlotte M[ary] Yonge, “A Patient Grisel”, in Stray Pearls: Memoirs of Margaret de Ribaumont, Viscountess of Bellaise, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 232–233:

     Now the Baronne de Ribaumont Walwyn was a veritable grande dame, and Madame Croquelebois, in spite of her sharp nose, and sharper tongue, was quite cowed by her, and absolutely driven to confess that she had not heard a word against Madame la Contesse.

   • 1902 March, Gertrude Franklin Atherton, chapter III, in The Conqueror: Being the True and Romantic Story of Alexander Hamilton, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, book I (Rachel Levine), page 15:

     Do you no longer want to go to Europe? to court? to be grande dame and converse with princes?

   • 1966 August 19, “Resorts: Happening at the Hamptons”, in Time‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-10-28:

     "Beatniks," snorted one grande dame as she pushed her way toward her chauffeur-driven limousine.

   • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 141:

     She has been buying (under my guidance) new clothes and she looks quite the grande dame.

3. A woman who is accomplished and influential, and is a respected senior figure in a particular field; a doyenne.
   • 1965 August 2, “Milestones”, in Time‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-10-29:

     Died. Ruth St. Denis, 90, grande dame of modern dance, whose foresight and inspiration helped change the U.S. from a choreographic wasteland to what is today one of the world's foremost centers of dance; […]

   • 2007 July 15, Larry Rohter, “Movies: A part made for her”, in The New York Times‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-26:

     As the grande dame of Latin American actresses, Norma Aleandro is accustomed to having choice roles gravitate in her direction.

4. (figurative) A very highly regarded and well-known institution or structure, or large conveyance such as a ship.
   • 2006, Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince, “The Basque Country”, in Alexia Meyers Travaglini, editor, Spain 2007 (Frommer’s), Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 534:

     Carlton […] Returned to its former glory, this is the grande dame of all Bilbao hotels.

Derived terms

• Grande Dame Guignol

Translations

woman who is high-ranking, socially prominent, or has a dignified character

• Finnish: arvokas rouva
• French: grande dame (fr) f
• Hebrew: גבירה כבודה ?, גבירה אריסטוקרטית ?, גבירה מרשימה ?,
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

woman who is accomplished and influential, and is a respected senior figure in a particular field — see doyenne

very highly regarded and well-known institution or structure, or large conveyance

• Finnish: kuningatar (fi)
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• “grande dame”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.