FEMALE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does female mean? 

• FEMALE (noun)
  The noun FEMALE has 2 senses:

1. an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa)

2. a person who belongs to the sex that can have babies

  Familiarity information: FEMALE used as a noun is rare.

• FEMALE (adjective)
  The adjective FEMALE has 3 senses:

1. being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces fertilizable gametes (ova) from which offspring develop

2. characteristic of or peculiar to a woman

3. for or pertaining to or composed of women or girls

  Familiarity information: FEMALE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FEMALE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("female" is a kind of...):

animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna (a living organism characterized by voluntary movement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "female"):

hen (female of certain aquatic animals e.g. octopus or lobster)

dam (female parent of an animal especially domestic livestock)

female mammal (animals that nourish their young with milk)

filly (a young female horse under the age of four)

Antonym:

male (an animal that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that can fertilize female gametes (ova))

Derivation:

female (being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces fertilizable gametes (ova) from which offspring develop)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who belongs to the sex that can have babies

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

female; female person

Hypernyms ("female" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Meronyms (parts of "female"):

female body (the body of a female human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "female"):

female offspring (a child who is female)

female child; girl; little girl (a youthful female person)

foster-sister; foster sister (your foster sister is a female who is not a daughter of your parents but who is raised by your parents)

girl wonder (an extremely talented young female person)

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

woman (a female person who plays a significant role (wife or mistress or girlfriend) in the life of a particular man)

Antonym:

male (a person who belongs to the sex that cannot have babies)

Derivation:

female (characteristic of or peculiar to a woman)

• FEMALE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces fertilizable gametes (ova) from which offspring develop

Context example:

female holly trees bear the berries

Similar:

female (for or pertaining to or composed of women or girls)

egg-producing; young-bearing (capable of producing eggs and bearing offspring)

pistillate (having gynoecia, or pistils, the ovule-bearing organ of a seed plant)

Also:

feminine (associated with women and not with men)

Attribute:

gender; sex; sexuality (the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Antonym:

androgynous (having both male and female characteristics)

male (being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that perform the fertilizing function in generation)

Derivation:

female (an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa))

femaleness (the properties characteristic of the female sex)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Characteristic of or peculiar to a woman

Synonyms:

distaff; female

Context example:

female suffrage

Similar:

feminine (associated with women and not with men)

Derivation:

female (a person who belongs to the sex that can have babies)

femaleness (the properties characteristic of the female sex)

Sense 3

Meaning:

For or pertaining to or composed of women or girls

Context example:

a female chorus

Similar:

female (being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces fertilizable gametes (ova) from which offspring develop)

Derivation:

femaleness (the properties characteristic of the female sex)

 Context examples 

It is a form of the female hormone progesterone and belongs to the family of drugs called progestins.

(Medroxyprogesterone acetate, NCI Dictionary)

They swim from their infancy like frogs, and are able to continue long under water, where they often take fish, which the females carry home to their young.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I said, what would be the expense of this young female? and Mrs. Crupp said she supposed eighteenpence would neither make me nor break me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Being a female, she possessed no such instinct.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Since only female trees can make seeds, changes in the relative numbers of males and females might lead to reduced populations.

(Striped maple trees often change mating types, with females more likely to die, National Science Foundation)

Having to do with the time a female is pregnant, before birth occurs.

(Antenatal, NCI Dictionary)

Female mosquitoes have nerve cells called cpA neurons that have a receptor to detect carbon dioxide.

(How mosquitoes detect people, NIH)

The females and young ones huddled together beside the water, while the whole circle of sentinels rose one after the other and sailed off into the sky.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An epithelial neoplasm of the female reproductive system arising from mesonephric remnants.

(Mesonephric Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

There is a female predominance among those affected.

(Acroparesthesia Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)