cat lady

noun

A woman, often elderly, who devotes her time and attention to one or usually many domestic cats.

Meanings

nouncat lady (plural cat ladies)

plural cat ladies

  1. derogatoryinformalsometimesA woman, often elderly, who devotes her time and attention to one or usually many domestic cats.

    We all know the stereotype of the crazy cat lady who lives alone in a home that smells of stale litter. But how unjust is it really?

    2023 October 3, Sirin Kale, “Purring, parasites and pure love: what exactly makes someone a cat person?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
    3 more examples

    Beacon Hill’s notorious cat lady was in the spotlight again yesterday after an angry confrontation with cops who say they found at least two dead felines in her freezer following a brief standoff at her Plymouth home.

    2009 March 19, Jessica Fargen, “Cops: Lady froze her cats again”, in Boston Herald

    The most common is a female character. Single of course, lamenting that she can never own a cat because once you have one you won't be far away from being the cat lady of the neighborhood.

    2009 November, Suzanne Mullett, ABC News

    Aniston was responding to recently resurfaced 2021 comments by Vance, who told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the US was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

    2024 July 25, Catherine Shoard, quoting JD Vance, “Jennifer Aniston criticises JD Vance’s ‘childless cat ladies’ comment”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

Translations

French femme à chats
  • femme à chatselderly lady who devotes her attention to cats
Hungarian macskás nő
  • macskás nőelderly lady who devotes her attention to cats
Italian gattara
  • gattaraelderly lady who devotes her attention to cats
Polish kocia pani
  • kocia panielderly lady who devotes her attention to cats
Russian кошатница
  • кошатница (košatnica)elderly lady who devotes her attention to cats
Spanish loca de los gatos
  • loca de los gatoselderly lady who devotes her attention to cats
Cite this entry
APA

cat lady. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cat%20lady

MLA

“cat lady.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cat%20lady. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cat lady,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cat%20lady.

Source: cat lady on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.