female

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In labyrinth tests the female is as much superior to the male as the male is to the female in discrimination tests.

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Definitions (33)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (10)

  1. adjective Of or denoting the sex that produces ova or bears young.
  2. adjective Characteristic of or appropriate to this sex; feminine.
  3. adjective Consisting of members of this sex. See Usage Note at lady.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (16)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (5)

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Examples (50)

  • The one I came to know as the female was so much harassed by the other that she could get no food; and the points of her wings—or rather bones, which represent wings in other birds—were so lacerated by dashing against a stone wall in her endeavours to escape from her mate, that they bled for about ten days, and I thought she would bleed to death. —  MY STRANGE PETS AND Other Memories of Country Life
  • If casual fans come out to watch Baylor because a female is actually playing above the rim, that will be wonderful for Griner and the school -- but not so great for the sport. —  SFGate: Top News Stories
  • When the female is about to deposit her eggs, the male mounts upon her back and rides about until the eggs are all deposited, discharging upon them the fertilizing spermatozoa as they are laid by the female In higher orders of animals, fecundation takes place within the generative organs of the female by contact between the male and the female organs. —  Plain Facts for Old and Young
  • Thus commenced the reign of Queen Victoria over the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland One effect of the descent of the crown to a female was the separation from it of Hanover, after an union which had lasted for nearly a century and a quarter. —  The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. From George III. to Victoria
  • IN the progress and settlement of the feudal law, the male succession to fiefs had taken place some time before the female was admitted; and estates, being considered as military benefices, not as property, were transmitted to such only as could serve in the armies, and perform in person the conditions upon which they were originally granted. —  The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part A. From the Britons of Early Times to King John
 

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Words tagged female

jezebel · courtesan · sapphic · trollop · harridan · wonderwoman · harlot · lady garden · slapper · slut · wendy

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

male ·  young ·  new ·  individual ·  strange ·  former

Used in the same contextWord Family

female:   females
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, alteration (influenced by male, male) of femelle, from Old French, from Latin fēmella, diminutive of fēmina, woman; see dhē(i)- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English female, an accommodation form, in erroneous imitation of male, of the correct and more common femele, femel, n. and adjective, from Old French femelle, French femelle = Provencal femella = Portuguese femea, from Middle Latin femella, n., a female, a woman, Latin femella, only in literally sense, a young woman (cf. Old French femel, femelle, French femelle = Provencal femel = Portuguese femeo, from Middle Latin femellus, adjective), diminutive of femina, a woman, a female (see feme), prob. from √*fe, bring forth, produce: see fecund, fetus.
 

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/ˈfimeɪl/
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