headmistress

[hed-mis-tris]

noun

1. a woman in charge of a private school.

headmistress

/ ˌhɛdˈmistrəs /

noun

1. Gender-neutral form: head teacher. a female principal of a school

Gender Note

See -ess.

Other Word Forms

• headmistress-ship noun
• headmistressship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of headmistress¹

First recorded in 1870–75; head + mistress

Example Sentences

"Over the years, we had lower and lower people who decided to come to this school," the headmistress says, in English, hinting at tensions.

From BBC

Horace Zwender, there is no dearth of likely suspects: He has wronged everyone from his college girlfriend to the academy’s headmistress; he has abused girls at multiple schools.

From Los Angeles Times

Neither the stage production nor the musical can do much with the melodramatic Madame Morrible, the headmistress at Shiz who becomes a key player in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz’s fascist machinations.

From Los Angeles Times

Her headmistress was angry, complaining that her former pupil was throwing her life away.

From BBC

“Miss Trunchbull is the evil headmistress. They only exist in a children’s book.”

From Literature