hostess
Americannoun
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a woman who receives and entertains guests in her own home or elsewhere.
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a woman employed in a restaurant or place of amusement to receive, seat, or assist patrons.
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a woman who acts as master of ceremonies, moderator, or interviewer for a television or radio program; host.
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a woman employed by an airline, railroad, bus company, etc., to see that passengers are comfortable throughout a trip, usually receiving and seating them, and sometimes serving them refreshments.
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a woman who manages a resort or hotel or who directs its social activities.
verb (used with object)
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to be the hostess at (a reception, dinner, etc.).
She will hostess a shower for the new bride.
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to act as hostess at, to, or for.
She volunteered to hostess the garden club next season.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a woman acting as host
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a woman who receives and entertains patrons of a club, restaurant, etc
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See air hostess
Gender
See -ess.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hostess
1250–1300; Middle English ( h ) ostesse < Old French. See host 1, -ess
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The hostess working the front desk at the bar compliments my hair, which, to be honest, is in desperate need of a cut.
From Slate • Jun. 2, 2026
Later, at a post-match reception at the home of a wealthy local white family, the team lined up to meet the hostess.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
It’s been 101 years since Virginia Woolf first published “Mrs Dalloway,” a novel about persnickety party hostess Clarissa Dalloway colliding with her former lovers, one male and one female.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
The 72-year-old said he had been hugely surprised to have his directorial debut, which stars his daughter Ella Bleu as an air hostess, accepted at the world's most prestigious film festival.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
We arrived at our destination; where our hostess, seeing the state of my quondam master, refused us the room.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
