Magdalene
name, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A reformed prostitute.
""Trying to help women who've come to grief." Old Jolyon didn't quite understand. "To grief?" he repeated; then realised with a shock that she meant exactly what he would have meant himself if he had used that expression. Assisting the Magdalenes of London!"
- 1 A female given name from Hebrew.
- 2 Mary Magdalene, a disciple of Jesus.
"and the twelue were with him, And certaine women which had bene healed of euill spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene out of whom went seuen deuils"
- 3 Ellipsis of Magdalene College, Cambridge. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"and the twelue were with him, And certaine women which had bene healed of euill spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene out of whom went seuen deuils"
Etymology
From Ancient Greek Μαγδαληνή (Magdalēnḗ, “woman from Magdala”), byname of the biblical Mary Magdalene, "Mary of Magdala", from Μαγδαλά (Magdalá), the name of a village on Lake Galilee (the name of which derives from Hebrew מגדל (migdál, “tower”)). Generic use comes from the traditional association of Mary Magdalene with the "woman which was a sinner" mentioned in Luke 7:37. Doublet of Madeleine, Magdalen, Magdalena, and Maudlin.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.