Link Centre Dictionary

MS

UK/ɛmz/ US/ˈmɪz/ common uk

noun

1.
2.

a state in the Deep South on the gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate States during the American Civil War

Synonyms
3.
4.

the form of a literary work submitted for publication

Synonyms

Origin

Found since the 1600s as an abbreviation of mistress (whence also Miss and Mrs), a title which initially did not indicate marital status. Suggestions that the term be revived began in 1901, and referenced the fact that dialects such as Southern US English already made no distinction between Miss and Mrs (/ˈmɪz/) in speech. With the founding of the magazine Ms. in 1971, the term quickly became widespread as an alternative to Miss and Mrs., which require knowing (and publicizing) the referent's marital status.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.