actress
Americannoun
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actresses
plural
noun
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a woman who acts in a play, film, broadcast, etc
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informal a woman who puts on a false manner in order to deceive others
Usage
Use of the word actress to refer to a female who acts is old-fashioned. The modern gender-neutral form is actor
Gender
What's the difference between actress and actor? See -ess.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of actress
Vocabulary lists containing actress
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Released 60 years ago, the director’s drama about a troubled actress and the nurse assigned to care for her is a work of dazzling, dreamlike style and haunting ambiguity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Julie Hesmondhalgh noticed Myha'la ostentatiously winking at Grant before she voted for him, which led the former Coronation Street actress to make one of the most impassioned - but mistaken - speeches of the night.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Arriving in theaters this fall after multiple splashy film festival premieres, it announces the 38-year-old actress, best known for playing a bedraggled spy in the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, as a potential Oscar contender.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Back in 2008, she won a supporting actress Emmy for an airport show called “Red Eye.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
The grinning face of a middle-aged actress filled the screen.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
She got the job over the “more A-list” actresses who Rock says were vying for it, in part because she clearly wanted it so much.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
“Wednesday” star Jenna Ortega may be one of Hollywood’s most recognizable young actresses, but when it comes to real estate, the 23-year-old has kept a relatively low profile.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Feuds between male journalists and actresses go back years and years.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
The show is returning with 15 celebrities competing for the glitterball trophy, including Australian singer Delta Goodrem, former England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips, actresses Lacey Turner and Jaime Winstone and Team GB skeleton racer Tabby Stoecker.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
Movie studios used to sign deals with actors and actresses, in exchange for creating their personas and controlling their lives.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
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.
