name
Meaning 1
A female given name.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
Selma
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈsɛlmə/
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rhymes with -ɛlmə
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CMU ARPABET: S EH1 L M AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
name
Meaning 2
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 3
A placename
A community in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 4
A placename
A village in Graubünden canton, Switzerland.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 5
A placename
A place in the United States.
A city, the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama; named for James Macpherson's Ossianic poem The Songs of Selma.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 6
A placename
A place in the United States.
A city in Fresno County, California; named for early resident Selma Michelson.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 7
A placename
A place in the United States.
A city in Texas.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 8
A placename
A place in the United States.
A town in North Carolina; named for the city in Alabama.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 9
A placename
A place in the United States.
A town in Indiana.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 10
A placename
A place in the United States.
A census-designated place in Josephine County, Oregon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 11
A placename
A place in the United States.
A census-designated place in Virginia.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 12
A placename
A place in the United States.
An unincorporated community in Arkansas.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 13
A placename
A place in the United States.
An unincorporated community in Iowa.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 14
A placename
A place in the United States.
An unincorporated community in Kansas.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 15
A placename
A place in the United States.
An unincorporated community in Missouri; named for the place in the Ossian cycle.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 16
A placename
A place in the United States.
An unincorporated community in Ohio.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 17
A confrontation where authorities brutally repress those wanting civil rights, similar to Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, figuratively
Topics: government, politics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 18
a town in central Alabama on the Alabama river; in 1965 it was the center of a drive to register Black voters
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: town
History
Etymology
Taken to use in the 19th century when similar-sounding names, Elma, Thelma, Alma, Wilma, etc. were in vogue. Perhaps a shortening of Anselma, or from the name of a place in the James Macpherson's Ossian cycle of epic poems, itself from Scottish Gaelic sealladh + math (“good vision”). In some cases perhaps borrowed from Turkish Selma, from Arabic سَلْمَى (salmā).
Across languages
Translations
17 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Arabic: سَلْمَى (salmā) — female given name
- Chinese Mandarin: 塞爾瑪 /塞尔玛 (Sài'ěrmǎ) — female given name
- Danish: Selma — female given name
- Faroese: Selma — female given name
- Finnish: Selma — female given name
- Icelandic: Selma — female given name
- Norwegian: Selma — female given name
- Persian: سلما (salmâ) — female given name
- Portuguese: Selma — female given name
- Russian: Сельма (Selʹma) — female given name
- Russian: Сальма (Salʹma) — female given name
- Serbo-Croatian: Селма — female given name
- Serbo-Croatian: Selma — female given name
- Spanish: Salma — female given name
- Swedish: Selma — female given name
- Turkish: Selma — female given name
- Lombard: Selme — village in Switzerland
Real reading context