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female

[fee-meyl]

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Female Definition Dictionary.com Find Definitions For Any Word.Get Your Free Dictionary.com Toolbar.

noun

a person bearing two X chromosomes in the cell nuclei and normally having a vagina, a uterus and ovaries, and developing at puberty a relatively rounded body and enlarged breasts, and retaining a beardless face; a girl or woman.

an organism of the sex or sexual phase that normally produces egg cells.

Botany. a pistillate plant.

adjective

of, pertaining to, or being a female animal or plant.

of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a female person; feminine: female suffrage; female charm.

composed of females: a female readership.

Botany.

designating or pertaining to a plant or its reproductive structure that produces or contains elements requiring fertilization.

(of seed plants) pistillate.

Machinery. being or having a recessed part into which a corresponding part fits: a female plug. Compare male (def. 5).

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Female is always a great word to know.

So is bryophytes. Does it mean:

ovules which are unenclosed, forming on cones or stalks

phylum of green, nonvascular, seedless plants comprised of true mosses, hornworts and liverworts

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Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English, variant (by association with male) of femelle < Anglo-French, Old French femel(l)e < Latin fēmella, diminutive of fēmina woman (see -elle); in VL developing the sense “female of an animal”

Related forms

fe·male·ness, noun

an·ti·fe·male, adjective

un·fe·male, adjective

Can be confused: female, feminine (see synonym note at the current entry).

Synonyms
1. See woman. 4–7. Female, feminine, effeminate are adjectives that describe women and girls or attributes and conduct culturally ascribed to them. Female, which is applied to plants and animals as well as to human beings, is a biological or physiological descriptor, classifying individuals on the basis of their potential or actual ability to produce offspring in bisexual reproduction. It contrasts with male in all uses: her oldest female relative; the female parts of the flower. Feminine refers essentially to qualities or behaviors deemed by a culture or society to be especially appropriate to or ideally associated with women and girls. In American and Western European culture, these have traditionally included features such as delicacy, gentleness, gracefulness, and patience: to dance with feminine grace; a feminine sensitivity to moods. Feminine is also, less frequently, used to refer to physical features: a lovely feminine figure; small, feminine hands. Effeminate is most often applied derogatorily to men or boys, suggesting that they have character or behavior traits culturally believed to be appropriate to women and girls rather than to men: an effeminate horror of rough play; an effeminate speaking style. See also womanly.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To female

Example Sentences

The dress code would make female players appear more feminine and appealing to fans and corporate sponsors, officials said.

Female athletes continued to graduate at higher rates than males, however.

But the difference in male and female employment rates in many countries is still large and persistent.

EXPAND

The dress code would make female players appear more feminine and appealing to fans and corporate sponsors, officials said.

Female athletes continued to graduate at higher rates than males, however.

But the difference in male and female employment rates in many countries is still large and persistent.

Female dominance in the mating game is also reflected in the size and appearance of polyandrous birds.

Distinguishing between male and female human remains can be tricky, especially in cases where only partial skeletons are found.

Though underrepresented in some fields, female scientists are no longer rare.

When flowers are on separate trees, you'll get fruit on female tree only if a male tree grows nearby.

Female science-fiction fans didn't often see strong women in their favorite childhood books, but that's changing.

For decades, rumors have persisted that some of the best female athletes have in fact been men.

Researchers have suggested for years that male and female athletes may experience sport-related concussions in different ways.

He notes that male tennis stars play a more exciting game than female stars but get paid the same.

Motherhood is an equal-opportunity employer for female lions.

Facial shape and judgements of female attractiveness.

Humpback whale female with cooperating males around her.

Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants.

They fed the female fruit flies with yeast that contained lots of heavy nitrogen.

Many female protesters said they faced resistance from their families over their political activism.

Over the last three decades, the percentage of female faculty members at seminaries has more than tripled.

Female education, for instance, was once virtually unknown.

The female flame-colored has a streaked back, larger bill, and white tips to both its tertials and tail.

All that atrazine may be having another effect: turning male frogs female.

He vowed that a top female player would not be able to beat him.

Male and female flowers, borne on separate plants, are inconspicuous.

Female spiny-backed orb-weavers have bodies up to a half-inch wide, while males grow to only about a fifth of that size.

These animal/human hybrids mark certain female bodies as inhuman.

The way hotels are trying to reach out to female business travellers is an interesting study in gender stereotypes.

Unlike many songbirds, both male and female cardinals sing, and the female often vocalizes with song from her nest.

The present imbalance has led to exaggerated reports of female marriage prospects.

Even if she had written one, it was unlikely that it would have been published because she was female.

Pistils, found in the flower's center, bear the female reproductive parts.

Instead, the males mimic female coloration, allowing them to get close enough to a female to make mating possible.

But as the clamour for female emancipation grew, it shook what happened in the home, as well as in politics.

In the case of malaria, parasites attach themselves to the gut of a female mosquito and enter a host as she feeds.

Mention a female scientist who emits exactly these qualities.

The time seemed right to combine murder mystery and forensics with a strong female character.

Put the female plant at one end and the male at the other, and you'll get a shady canopy overhead and lots of fruit.

All of the tracks feature female readers, and the stories emphasize female arousal and mutual pleasure.

Nepal ranks low in the league tables on maternal health, female literacy and the role of women in public life.

Under certain conditions, a male will change into a female.

It does not represent the female body in a state of nature.

The winner hurries back onto the beach, to his spot amidst the dozens of female seals in his harem.

Female trees bear abundant, small red fruits that attract birds.

It was hard to find strong female characters to follow.

In fast-growing emerging economies, the pool of highly educated and talented female workers remains limited.

He then rears the hatchlings, defending them aggressively and charging any animal-even a female rhea-that approaches too closely.

The drug apparently targeted the female stem cells, preventing their ability to produce oocytes.

Female gypsy moths and eggs collect on the trunk of a host tree.

Male and female flowers on separate trees more add to my plant list.

Two decades ago researchers discovered that some male garter snakes mimic female behavior when they emerge from hibernation.

Even female rats obsessively self-administer addictive drugs more readily than male rodents do.

It could also be the opposite, with an alpha female structure.

If male trees are nearby, female tre more add to my plant list enlarge.

Female cheetahs typically have a litter of three cubs and live with them for one and a half to two years.

The scientists showed the apparently healthy women images of both overweight and thin female bodies.

Female plants bear conspicuous, egg-shaped, red to orange seeds.

Among the team's revelations was that male and female wrens use duets to find one another.

Several studies have shown that female fireflies choose mates depending upon specific male flash pattern characteristics.

Both male and female trees needed to get fruits add to my plant list.

Researchers study the natural foundations of female social aggression.

If male plant is present, female produces small, sour bright red or orange berries that can be used for jams and jellies.

Male and female actors gave physics lectures to college students.

Both male and female forms are available more add to my plant list.

If the female population of violent criminals were to increase we'd likely see more women incarcerated for extreme violence.

In fall and winter, female plants will bear hollylike red berries if a male plant is nearby add to my plant list.

First, women simply gave the total numbers of gay male, straight male and female friends they had.

Blossoms and tiny, developing fruit at base of female flowers can be eaten as delicacies.

Such varieties still produce an occasional female plant add to my plant list.

Female red palm weevils bore into a palm tree to form a hole into which they lay eggs.

All this is done in hopes of thrilling female prairie chickens.

Catnip seems to operate on male and female cats equally.

One posting said they would only sell male and female sets.

Female police chiefs are being more readily accepted into the top jobs.

Estrogen--the quintessential female hormone responsible for regulating the.

To be female was also to be fragile, dependent, prone to nerves and-not least.

We have had female acrobats, female bicyclists, and female ball-players.

Female orangutans judge potential partners' aggression levels by snatching food from them and watching their response.

Female athletes may not be eligible to compete as women if they have natural testosterone levels in the male range.

Our star contemplates devouring the young of a nearby female tyrannosaur for no other reason than to quell his inner turmoil.

Now neuroscientists are reverse engineering the female orgasm.

The number of homeless female veterans is growing, but so far there are few agencies to serve them.

When the nation's black female philosophers meet for the first time next month, the.

Female infanticide is still practiced in rural regions.

Still, some female podcasters have different concerns than men.

As the number of women riding bicycles has grown, so has the number of female bike mechanics.

China has a horribly low ratio of top female politicians.

Because female red-necked phalaropes are the ones that.

It also suggests a personal contempt for a female political candidate, presumably because of her values, opinions and beliefs.

For a raft of young, independent female journalists and online producers, beauty is zine deep.

Among many species of birds, the female is plain and brown, and the male had beautiful plumage with which to attract the female.

Ultimately, this changing equation now is encouraging female births in the region.

Female bowerbirds, it seems, share these age-specific.

If you've been bitten by a mosquito, it was a female.

Female plants produce cottony seed clusters that can make a mess when blown about by wind.

Female scientists are beginning to outnumber male scientists in some areas.

They say the spider, which hunts blood-sucking female mosquitoes, is the only.

If male trees are nearby, female trees will bear clusters of tiny fruits.

During the past decade, however, hidden female fertility has been increasingly questioned.

As a female scientist with the potential to do real research, you cannot have children.

It cannot be said that men have given a gracious welcome to female players.

The male beetle and the larvae also glow, but not as brightly as female.

It used to be difficult to find genuinely good female characters in science fiction and fantasy.

So a period of infertility can leave a female free to shepherd a greater number of grandchildren into the next generation.

In addition, every female within each matriline has a rank.

And even today, with plenty of excellent female characters.

Female humans aren't the only species that finds deep-voiced males attractive.

Blossoms and tiny, developing fruit at the base of female flowers can be eaten as delicacies.

If playing as a female character the scene can take place between her and a male human or a female humanoid alien.

The child was probably female and about three years old when she died, according to the researchers.

And that female rats are more robust than male rats.

If both male and female plants are present, small maroon flowers in spring.

For female crickets, those fed a robust diet lived longer than did their protein-starved counterparts.

Though the female great horned owl is larger than the male, his call is much lower.

People think of many things, even numbers, as being either male or female.

But photos often showed female athletes sitting still and looking pretty.

Female lizards use a hormone to change their offspring's markings depending on genes and social environment.

Young female red-fronted lemurs adopt male coloration to dupe their aggressive female groupmates, a new study found.

The female spirit supervises other spirits in masks.

Hermaphroditic animals are unique because they have both male and female reproductive parts.

Jones focuses on whether the presence of a calf affects female behavior.

But female house finches tip the odds in their babies' favor by pre.

Males and female specimens are also close to each other in body size.

When female monkeys see their young watching them, they exaggerate their flossing.

Back in his lab, he placed a male spider in the lid of a cardboard box and put a female in with him.

The neurobiologists bred normal female mice with males genetically modified to uniformly express a green fluorescent protein.

The uncoupling of male and female traits occurs if there is selection for it:.

But at the moment, scientists don't know whether bourgeonal is produced in the female body at all.

As a woman ages, a number of changes take place in the female reproductive system.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

female (ˈfiːmeɪl)

—*adj*
1.	of, relating to, or designating the sex producing gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa)
2.	of, relating to, or characteristic of a woman: female charm
3.	for or composed of women or girls: female suffrage; a female choir
4.	(of reproductive organs such as the ovary and carpel) capable of producing female gametes
5.	(of gametes such as the ovum) capable of being fertilized by a male gamete in sexual reproduction
6.	(of flowers) lacking, or having nonfunctional, stamens
7.	having an internal cavity into which a projecting male counterpart can be fitted: a female thread

—n
8.	a. a female animal or plant
	b. derogatory a woman or girl

[C14: from earlier femelle (influenced by male), from Latin fēmella a young woman, from fēmina a woman]

'femaleness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

female

early 14c., from O.Fr. femelle, from M.L. femella "a female," from L. femella "young female, girl," dim. of femina "woman" (see feminine). Sense extended in V.L. from humans to female of other animals. Spelling altered late 14c. on mistaken parallel of male. Reference to

EXPAND

sockets, etc., is from 1660s.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

female fe·male (fē'māl')
adj.
Of, relating to, or denoting the sex that produces ova or bears young. n.

A member of the sex that produces ova or bears young.
A woman or girl.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

female (fē'māl') Pronunciation Key
Adjective

In organisms that reproduce sexually, being the gamete that is larger and less motile than the other corresponding gamete (the male gamete) of the same species. The egg cells of higher animals and plants are female gametes.
Possessing or being a structure that produces only female gametes. The ovaries of humans are female reproductive organs. Female flowers possess only carpels and no stamens.
Having the genitalia or other structures typical of a female organism. Worker ants are female but sterile.

Noun A female organism.

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woman sister girl mother dame daughter

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Matching Quote

"What we ought to see in the agonies of puberty is the result of the conditioning that maims the female personality in creating the feminine."

-Germaine Greer

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