ladylike
Americanadjective
-
like a lady.
- Synonyms:
- courteous, well-mannered, well-bred
-
befitting a lady.
in a ladylike manner.
- Synonyms:
- courteous, well-mannered, well-bred
adjective
-
like or befitting a lady in manners and bearing; refined and fastidious
-
derogatory (of a man) effeminate
Other Word Forms
- ladylikeness noun
- unladylike adjective
Etymology
Origin of ladylike
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 unflappable Pointer sails above the general mayhem with a ladylike aplomb that makes her subsequent emotional epiphany all the more moving,” The Times wrote about Pointer’s performance in that show.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2025
"I was raised to be very ladylike and considerate of others, and respectable. My mother definitely would have liked me to go into more a feminine field," she says.
From BBC • May 17, 2023
When he met Annie, she struck him as “very ladylike and very nice, very sweet. Soft-spoken.”
From Washington Post • Oct. 13, 2022
Her critique of ladylike behavior was delivered while modeling it at the same time — “back straight, chin up,” just as the poem describes, and shod in Louboutins.
From New York Times • Jan. 12, 2022
If only there was a ladylike way to get out of a cab.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
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.
