Madonna definition

mə-dŏnə
madonnas
See word origin
Frequency:
The Virgin Mary, especially as depicted in art.
noun
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An image or figure of the Virgin Mary.
noun
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(obsolete) Used as a form of polite address for a woman, especially in an Italian-speaking area.
noun
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A former Italian title for a woman, equivalent to madam.
noun
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(person, proper) Mary, mother of Jesus.
noun
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A picture or statue of Mary.
noun
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(skateboarding) A one-footed lien to tail trick, where the front foot is taken off and kicked out straight down behind the board.
noun
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The Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.
pronoun
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A female given name.
pronoun
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
madonna
Plural:
madonnas

Origin of madonna

  • Italian from Old Italian ma- (variant of mia my) (from Latin mea Madame) donna lady (from Latin domina Madame)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Italian madonna, from Old Italian ma (“my") + donna (“lady"). The given name is derived from the English term, not used as a given name in Italy.

    From Wiktionary

Madonna Sentence Examples

  • An interval of five years separates the Vienna "Madonna" from the two fine heads of the apostles Philip and James in the Uffizi at Florence, the pair of boys' heads painted in tempera on linen in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, the "Madonna with the Pink" at Augsburg, and the portrait of Wolgemut at Munich, all of 1516.

  • Tradition ascribes to Leonardo an attractive fresco of a Madonna with a donor in the convent of St Onofrio, but this seems to be clearly the work of Boltraffio.

  • The Madonna della Steccata (Our Lady of the Palisade), a fine church in the form of a Greek cross, erected between 1521 and 1539 after Zaccagni's designs, contains the tombs and monuments of many of the Bourbon and Farnese dukes of Parma, and preserves its pictures, Parmigiano's "Moses Breaking the Tables of the Law" and Anselmi's "Coronation of the Virgin."

  • Many inscriptions and ancient fragments may be seen built into the houses; in front of the Madonna delle Grazie is a bull in red Egyptian granite, and in the Piazza Papiniano the fragments of two Egyptian obelisks erected in A.D.

  • Sofia in Padua, a Madonna picture of exceptional and recognized excellence.

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Related articles

Words near madonna in the Dictionary