Madison Avenue

proper noun

The American advertising industry, regardless of location.

“Holonyms: Manhattan < New York < New York < United States < North America < Earth, World”

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. USmetonymicallyThe American advertising industry, regardless of location.

    Maligned by rockers, misunderstood by critics, and merched by Madison Avenue, rave may be the only vital youth culture remaining.

    1995, SPIN, volume 11, number 1, page 10
  2. An avenue in Manhattan, New York, that traditionally has been a principal locus for that industry and whose name is metonymically extended to refer to it.

    Holonyms: Manhattan < New York < New York < United States < North America < Earth, World

Origin

From Madison Avenue, a north–south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, where advertising boomed in the 1920s.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Madison Avenue. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Madison%20Avenue

MLA

“Madison Avenue.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Madison%20Avenue. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Madison Avenue,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Madison%20Avenue.

Source: Madison Avenue on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.