What is the plural of Mrs?
If I were speaking of three sisters, young girls, whose family name was "Holmsworth", I might say The Misses Holmsworth.
But if I were speaking collectively of Donald Trump's three wives, the present one and the two previous ones, how would I adopt a similar style? Would it be The Mesdames Trump?
Another question on the site asks a general question about addressing groups of people, but it does not specifically relate to the plural of Mrs.
Solution 1:
According to M-W the form used is the formal but uncommon Mesdames:
It's odd, but there is no common plural form for the titles Mr. and Mrs. in English.
Other titles easily become count nouns: Justice Sandra Day O'Connor/Three of the justices recused themselves. Professor Harold Bloom/Ask your professors if you can have extra help. Captain Richard Sharpe/The regiment's captains all gathered for dinner.
But for Mr. and Mrs. there is no common plural form. The plural forms for these titles are only used in formal, official, or otherwise self-conscious writing. They are almost always used when naming people who have already been identified.
The plural for Mr.: Messrs.
- The plural for Mrs.: Mesdames
For example:
- Messrs. Smith and Jones were named to the company's board at the last general meeting.
- Bush's foreign policy would have been better off examining [...] the informal Republican meetings on Capitol Hill in the late 1990s (in which Messrs. Cheney and Rumsfeld were key participants).
Mesdames:
(formal) Used as a title to refer to more than one woman simultaneously:
- prizes were won by Mesdames Carter and Barnes (ODO)
As shown in Ngram the usage of "Mesdames" has considerably decreased from the early 20th century.
Solution 2:
I would personally go for:
The Trump wives got together for drinks.
or
All of the Mrs. Trumps got together for drinks.
I'm sure this is wrong and might make English scholars feel the need to hit me with a ruler but I've seriously never heard Mesdames before today.