mesdames
- 1Plural of madam. Formal and dated, used mainly in address.
Mesdames, please take your seats before the auction begins.
Older business letters to several women sometimes opened with "Mesdames."
Note
A French plural that English kept for courtesy: when one speaker addresses several women at once, mesdames is the formal choice, standing alongside the native plural madams. It belongs to madam as a polite form of address, so it suits a room being greeted directly, as in an opening call before an auction or a gala, rather than a group of women being described.
- 2Plural of madame.
Mesdames Moreau and Petit arrived together at the opera.
The program listed Mesdames Girard and Blanc as the evening's hosts.
Note
Here the word works as a title, not a greeting. Placed before surnames, it covers two or more women at once, as in Mesdames Dupont and Laurent, much as Mrs. or Ms. would for one woman. The singular, abbreviated Mme, is used for French-speaking women and, by custom, certain others. The spelling and the French plural are shared with the plural of polite address.
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