governess

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When Elizabeth saw the manuscript, she wrote to a friend that “the governess has gone off her head.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026

Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House as a governess with a secret, which would be enough for many a novel set in Victorian England.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2025

Margot, whose name we have changed, was 19 when she responded to a job advertisement in The Lady magazine in 1985, for a position as a nanny and governess in Surrey.

From BBC • Oct. 10, 2024

She worked as a governess in Paris and later converted to Catholicism and was baptized at the age of 26.

From New York Times • Jan. 18, 2023

Aunt Tess had sat in my family’s parlor in Baltimore, had told me that my French could be put to better use overseas than working as a fancy governess.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse