Meanings
plural modistes
- A person who makes or sells fashionable women's clothing, especially dresses or hats.First known use 19th c.
All the colours of the rainbow, materialised by modistes, were there.
1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson1 more example
Her dresses – about 150 each year – are made by Rose Bertin, an expensive but necessary modiste with premises on the rue Saint-Honoré.
1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 46
Synonyms & antonyms
nounsomeone who makes and sells hats
nouna woman who makes or mends dresses
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchmodiste
- Englishmodiste
From French modiste. Compare modist.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French modiste
- modisteperson who makes or sells fashionable women's clothing
Polish modysta, modystka
- modystaperson who makes or sells fashionable women's clothing
- modystkaperson who makes or sells fashionable women's clothing
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with modiste
Anagrams
Cite this entry
modiste. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/modiste
“modiste.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/modiste. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “modiste,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/modiste.
Source: modiste on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.