Ms
name, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Abbreviation of manuscript. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, uncountable
- 2 Title used before an adult woman's name or surname, especially when it is not desired or possible to indicate her marital status with Miss or Mrs.
"Ms Jane Doe, Ms. Roe"
- 3 plural of M form-of, plural
- 4 Abbreviation of mesyl. abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable
- 5 Abbreviation of manuscript. abbreviation, alt-of
Show 16 more definitions
- 6 plural of m form-of, plural
- 7 a form of address for a woman wordnet
- 8 Initialism of mint state, a grading term. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 9 the form of a literary work submitted for publication wordnet
- 10 M/S: Initialism of motor ship. countable, uncountable
- 11 a master's degree in science wordnet
- 12 Initialism of morphine sulfate. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 13 a chronic progressive nervous disorder involving loss of myelin sheath around certain nerve fibers wordnet
- 14 Initialism of mitral stenosis. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 15 Initialism of multiple sclerosis. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
- 16 Initialism of Master of Science. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 17 Initialism of middle school. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 18 Initialism of mini-sheet. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 19 Initialism of murder-suicide. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 20 Initialism of medium shot. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 21 Initialism of member of Senedd UK, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 1 Abbreviation of Mato Grosso do Sul: a state of Brazil. abbreviation, alt-of
- 2 Initialism of Microsoft: an American multinational technology company founded in 1975. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 3 Abbreviation of Mississippi: a state of the United States. abbreviation, alt-of
- 4 Initialism of Morgan Stanley. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
"According to a list of participants on the forum’s website, the CEOs of Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) still plan to go. Both banks declined to comment. But a person familiar with the situation said Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein was “unlikely to attend.”"
Example
More examples"Ms. Eichler had a notorious reputation for being austere to her students."
Etymology
Found since the 1600s as an abbreviation of mistress (whence also Miss and Mrs), a title which initially did not indicate marital status. Suggestions that the term be revived began in 1901, and referenced the fact that dialects such as Southern US English already made no distinction between Miss and Mrs (/ˈmɪz/) in speech. With the founding of the magazine Ms. in 1971, the term quickly became widespread as an alternative to Miss and Mrs., which require knowing (and publicizing) the referent's marital status.
From M + -s.
From a shortening of its name.
From m + -s.
Related phrases
More for "ms"
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.