duenna

noun

Definition of duennanext
as in governess

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for duenna
  1. governess
  2. mademoiselle
  3. mammy
Noun
  • Claire then made an independent living as a governess and tried hard to distance herself from the scandals of Shelley and Byron.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 June 2026
  • Maika Monroe plays Winifred Notty, a young governess who arrives at the sweeping Ensor House in the 1850s, ready to work for the well-to-do Pounds family.
    — William Earl, Variety, 20 May 2026
Definition of governess
Noun
  • Doja also matches the vibe of a mademoiselle while putting her French to the test and posing for photos in front of the Eiffel Tower.
    — Michael Saponara, Billboard, 20 Aug. 2025
Definition of mademoiselle
Noun
  • These include typecasting Black women as jezebels, sapphires and mammies; these depictions, combined with the law enforcement they may be exposed to, increase their vulnerability under the law.
    — Kerry Lester Kasper, Chicago Tribune, 22 Aug. 2025
  • Toxic archetypes of Black womanhood—the mammy, the Black matriarch, the jezebel (or the Scraggle Daggle, in SYSBM parlance), and the welfare mother—are all alive and well in the Black Manosphere.
    — Nicole Young, ELLE, 26 Jan. 2022
Definition of mammy
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

duende
duenna
duennas
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Duenna.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/duenna. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All