I. ˈfēˌmāl noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, alteration (influenced by male ) of femel, femelle, from Middle French & Medieval Latin; Middle French femelle, from Medieval Latin femella, from Latin, young woman, girl, diminutive of femina woman — more at feminine
1. : an individual that bears young or produces eggs as distinguished from one that begets young
the female has to carry an embryo inside her body
as
a. : a female animal
b. : a woman or girl as distinguished from a man or boy
74 percent of the employees were females
when she was a few days old she became … the richest female in France — William Maxwell
2. : woman
the guide perceived that the females could command their steeds — J.F.Cooper
— now usually used disparagingly
ladies of culture and refinement or coarse common females
the backbiting of catty females
3. : a pistillate plant
II. adjective
Etymology: Middle English, alteration (influenced by male ) of femel, femelle, from Middle French & Medieval Latin; Middle French femel, femelle, from Medieval Latin femellus, from Latin femella, n.
1.
a. : of, by, for, or being the sex that bears young or a member of that sex: as
(1) : being a woman or girl or composed of members of the female sex
a female heir
the female population
: woman
a female pilot
(2) : belonging to, peculiar to, or characteristic of a woman
a female name on the doorplate
composed for female voices
female sensitiveness
(3) : engaged in or exercised by women
female tillage of the fields
female suffrage
b. : exhibiting femaleness
exceptional female behavior by the male bird
specifically : producing or capable of producing eggs
the uterus is a female organ
— symbol ♀
2.
a. : having some quality (as passiveness, gentleness, delicacy of color or sound, highness of pitch) associated with the female sex
the female castanet … gives a delicate sound while the male … with its deeper tone plays the role of accompaniment — F.C.Schang
b.
(1) : designed with a hollow into which a corresponding male part fits
the female coupling of a hose
the female molding of a table hinge
(2) : faced with a character in intaglio
a female stamping die
a female typefounding matrix
3. : feminine 4
4. of a dialect or speech form : normally used only by women or by men speaking to women
5. : of, associated with, or being the material, receptive, or productive principle of the cosmos — compare yin
Synonyms:
feminine , womanly , womanlike , womanish , effeminate , ladylike : female , opposed to male, stresses the fact of sex and usually lacks the rich connotation of various of the others in this set
a female voice
use of female labor in the mills
female fashions
the tender ministries of female hands — Alfred Tennyson
feminine , opposed to masculine, has practically supplanted female in references to what is characteristic of or appropriate to women, especially women's attitudes, qualities, and attributes
the sweet, rich, almost feminine curves of his sensitive mouth — J.C.Powys
the feminine task of mending a pair of gloves — Nathaniel Hawthorne
the strangely feminine jealousies and religiousness — John Steinbeck
the feminine touch of embroidery and lace — New York Times
womanly , opposed to manly and also, from another point of view, to girlish, often describes qualities that befit a woman or make her particularly attractive
yet more womanly was the purity with which she passed through the brutal warriors of an medieval camp — J.R.Green
a womanly tenderness such as any man might prize at a sanctified hearthside — R.P.Warren
womanlike may be used in reference to faults or foibles ascribed to women
womanlike, taking revenge too deep for a transient wrong — Alfred Tennyson
womanish is often derogatorily used in situations in which manliness might be wanted or expected
womanish entreaties and lamentations — T.B.Macaulay
the lank and gray-haired, long-nosed, elderly poet whose head leaned with a weak, womanish tilt — H.V.Gregory
0 effeminate often describes or suggests unmanly softness, delicacy, enervation, or lack of strength
his manner, in spite of his rugged appearance, was oddly effeminate — John Buchan
he saw in delicate, laborious, discriminating taste, an effeminate pedantry, and would, when the mood was on him, delight in all that seemed healthy, popular, and bustling — W.B.Yeats
In reference to girls and young women ladylike suggests decorous propriety; in references to boys and men it sarcastically suggests daintiness, delicacy, softness, primness, and lack of masculine force and strength
your daughter may be better paid, better dressed, more gently spoken, more ladylike than you were in the old mill — G.B.Shaw
that ladylike quality which is the curse of southern literature — Margaret Leech