First Lady

noun

variants or first lady

plural First Ladies or first ladies

1

: the wife or female partner of the chief executive of a country or jurisdiction

It is a reminder of just how peculiar the role of First Lady is in American public life. She has a job with no salary, a platform with no power, an East Wing filled with staff but no budget.

—Jonathan Van Meter

As a supermodel, singer-songwriter, and former first lady of France, no one has had a career quite like Carla Bruni. Since her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, left office in 2012, Bruni has focused on her music.

—Janelle Okwodu

also : someone who is not the wife or female partner of a chief executive but who fulfills the public duties of a First Lady

Unique among First Ladies, Harriet Lane acted as hostess for the only President who never married: James Buchanan, her favorite uncle and her guardian after she was orphaned at the age of eleven.

—Allida Black

2

: the leading woman of an art or profession

Back before Mobb Deep, before the whole Juice Crew, the first MC to blow up big out of the Bridge was hip hop's universally recognized First Lady, Roxanne Shanté.

—Sacha Jenkins

Carolyn Wells is the first lady of barbecue—alongside her late husband Gary Wells and friend Rick Welch, the three founded the Kansas City Barbeque Society in 1986.

—Damian Dominguez

Examples of First Lady in a Sentence

The President and the First Lady attended the concert.

the first lady of American dance

Recent Examples on the Web

The new First Lady, Betty Ford, was squarely on the opposite side of this debate. —Elizabeth Rees / Made By History, TIME, 1 Nov. 2024

Vaccinate Your Family is a nonpartisan group co-founded by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and former Arkansas First Lady Betty Bumpers that has worked on vaccine programs with both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations for the last 30 years. —Michelle R. Smith, Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2024

For Halloween 2023, 46th President of the United States Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden hosted some 8,000 guests at the Executive Mansion, passing out confections and books for the spooky festivities. —Kate Hogan, People.com, 31 Oct. 2024

Earlier this year, First Lady Biden and NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan announced the inaugural ten NSF Engine awards at Forsyth Technical Community College. —Shalin Jyotishi, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1677, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

first lady

noun

often capitalized F&L

: the wife, female partner, or hostess of the chief executive of a country or jurisdiction