Meaning & use
stewardress
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableold-fashioned
A woman whose job is to look after passengers on a ship or an aircraft.
Grammar: Countable: one stewardress, two stewardresses. The neutral modern term is 'flight attendant'.
Patterns
- work as a stewardress
- a stewardress on a ship
In the 1960s she worked as a stewardress on a passenger liner crossing the Atlantic.
The old photograph showed a stewardress smiling beside the cabin door.
Older novels often call her a stewardress, but today we say flight attendant.
nouncountableold-fashionedformal
A female official who keeps order and serves members at a club, race meeting, or formal event.
Grammar: Countable and rather formal; usually appears with 'at' or 'for' an event.
Patterns
- stewardress at an event
- act as stewardress
A stewardress checked our tickets at the entrance to the members' enclosure.
She served as stewardress at the annual charity dinner.
Word forms
| plural | stewardresses |
|---|
Common combinations
- work as a stewardress
- He said his grandmother used to work as a stewardress on a cruise ship.
- an airline stewardress
- The airline no longer uses the title airline stewardress in its job adverts.
- a ship's stewardress
- The ship's stewardress brought us tea every afternoon.
- serve as stewardress
- For ten years she served as stewardress at the sailing club.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flight attendant
- The modern, gender-neutral term for someone who looks after passengers on a plane; use this instead of 'stewardress' in current English.
- steward
- The masculine or neutral form; today it is often used for both men and women, especially on ships and at events.
- cabin crew
- A collective term for all the attendants on a flight; it is plural in feel and never used for one person.
Word family
- steward noun
- A person who looks after passengers or manages supplies, often on a ship or at a club.
- stewardess noun
- An older female form of the same job title, common in the twentieth century.
- stewardship noun
- The responsible management of something entrusted to you, such as money or property.
Commonly confused: stewardress or stewardess? stewardress or waitress?
stewardress vs stewardess
This is the older spelling and form you are more likely to meet in books; 'stewardress' is rarer and sounds even more dated.
stewardress vs waitress
A waitress serves food in a restaurant, while a stewardress worked on ships or planes, not usually in restaurants.
Practice
Which sentence uses the traditional, old-fashioned word correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Stewardress' meant a woman attending passengers on a ship or plane, so the cruise-ship sentence fits. The restaurant sentence needs 'waitress'; the business and school sentences need 'steward' or 'head teacher'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stewardress”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.