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woman
1[ woom-uhn ]
noun
- an adult female person. Compare man ( def 1 ), girl ( def 1 ).
- a female employee or representative:
A woman from the real estate agency called.
- Informal.
- a wife.
- a female lover or sweetheart.
- Older Use: Usually Offensive. a female employee who cleans a house, cooks, etc.; housekeeper.
- (in historical use) a female attendant to a lady of rank:
Your woman informed us of your travel plans.
- the nature, characteristics, or feelings often attributed to women; womanliness:
He has always loved and admired the woman in her.
- women collectively:
Woman is no longer subordinate to man.
verb (used with object)
- to put into the company of a woman.
- to equip or staff with women.
- Obsolete. to cause to act or yield like a woman.
-woman
2- a combining form of woman:
chairwoman; forewoman; spokeswoman.
woman
/ ˈwʊmən /
noun
- an adult female human being
- modifier female or feminine
woman talk
a woman politician
- women collectively; womankind
- the womanfeminine nature or feelings
babies bring out the woman in her
- a female servant or domestic help
- a man considered as having supposed female characteristics, such as meekness or timidity
- informal.a wife, mistress, or girlfriend
- the little woman informal.one's wife
- woman of the streetsa prostitute
verb
- rare.to provide with women
- obsolete.to make effeminate
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Sensitive Note
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Gender Note
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Derived Forms
- ˈwoman-ˌlike, adjective
- ˈwomanless, adjective
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Other Words From
- wom·an·less adjective
- an·ti·wom·an adjective
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of woman1
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Idioms and Phrases
- be one's own woman, (of females) to be free from restrictions, control, or dictatorial influence; be independent.
More idioms and phrases containing woman
see feel like oneself (new woman) ; marked man (woman) ; (woman) of few words ; own person (woman) ; right-hand man (woman) ; scarlet woman .Discover More
Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
A fourth suspect, a 26-year-old woman named Hayat Boumeddiene, remains at large.
In 2009, a Pakistani Christian woman got into a religious argument with some Muslim women with whom she was harvesting berries.
It is the summit of human happiness: the surrender of man to God, of woman to man, of several women to the same man.
While 19 percent of the House is female, just one woman will get to chair one of its 20 committees.
Instead, the man and woman in the truck wanted to know where the crash site was and whether would I show them.
She was also supposed to be the original or model of “the Virtuous Woman” therein portrayed!
The aged woman made no reply; her eyes still studied Ramona's face, and she still held her hand.
There are three things a wise man will not trust: the wind, the sunshine of an April day, and woman's plighted faith.
I find myself chained to the foot of a woman, my noble Cornelia would despise!
Woman is mistress of the art of completely embittering the life of the person on whom she depends.
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Words That Use -woman
What does -woman mean?
The combining form -woman is used like a suffix meaning “woman,” most often to indicate a woman who performs a particular job or function. It is often used in a variety of technical and everyday terms.
The form -woman ultimately comes from the Old English wīfmann, meaning “woman” or, more literally, “female person,” from wīf, “woman” or “wife,” and mann, which was then a gender-neutral term for an adult person. Want to know more? Check out our Words That Use entry for -wife.
What are variants of -woman?
The plural form of -woman is -women, as in saleswomen. An ending that’s less commonly used but means the same thing is -lady, as in saleslady. The male equivalent of -woman is -man, as in salesman. However, use of this kind of gendered language for professions has decreased in recent years, with gender-neutral terms often being preferred. Namely, the ending -person is often used, as in salesperson. Some terms are changed altogether, such as mail carrier being used instead of mailman. Still, some people may prefer to use the gender-specific version of a term that applies to them—a mailman may prefer to call himself a mailman and congresswoman may prefer to call herself a congresswoman, for example.
For more guidance, check out the Thesaurus.com guide to gender-neutral language.
Examples of -woman
The form -woman is used in many different words and is especially associated with professions, such as businesswoman and camerawoman. But the -woman ending in all of these words can also be replaced with -man. Most terms now have commonly used gender-neutral equivalents, including congresswoman (congressperson or representative), policewoman (police officer), and chairwoman (chairperson or just chair).
What are some words that use the combining form -woman?
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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