noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A female doyen.
2. 2
   a woman who is the senior member of a group wordnet
3. 3
   The senior or eldest female member of a group, especially one who is most or highly respected.

   "Helen Thomas is frequently referred to as "the doyenne of the White House press corps"."

4. 4
   A woman who is highly experienced and knowledgeable in a particular field, subject, or line of work; expert.

Synonyms

All synonyms

chiefdeandoyenelderfathergrande dame

Example

More examples

"Helen Thomas is frequently referred to as "the doyenne of the White House press corps"."

Etymology

Borrowed from French doyenne.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.