daughter
Americannoun
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daughters
plural
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a female child or person in relation to her parents.
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any female descendant.
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a person related as if by the ties binding daughter to parent.
daughter of the church.
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anything personified as female and considered with respect to its origin.
The United States is the daughter of the 13 colonies.
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Chemistry, Physics. an isotope formed by radioactive decay of another isotope.
adjective
noun
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a female offspring; a girl or woman in relation to her parents
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a female descendant
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a female from a certain country, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environment, etc
a daughter of the church
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archaic (often capital) a form of address for a girl or woman
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biology denoting a cell or unicellular organism produced by the division of one of its own kind
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physics (of a nuclide) formed from another nuclide by radioactive decay
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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daughterhoodnoun
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daughterlinessnoun
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daughter-likeadjective
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daughterlessadjective
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daughterlikeadjective
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daughterlyadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of daughter
before 950; Middle English doughter, Old English dohtor; cognate with German Tochter, Greek thygátēr, Sanskrit duhitā
Explanation
A daughter is a female offspring, and while it is usually referring to the female child's relationship to her parents, it might be used to suggest any similar relationship, such as the organization “Daughters of the American Revolution.” The English word daughter appeared before the Tenth Century as the Old English dohtor and later the Middle English doughter. Any connected group of women might be referred to as "daughters," For example, the "daughters of Zion" of the Bible and the "Daughters of Elysium" in Beethoven’s "Ode to Joy" closing to his Ninth Symphony. If people say you are your mother's daughter, aside from pointing out the obvious they are saying the two of you have a lot in common.
Vocabulary lists containing daughter
List 6
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Spelling Practice, Unit 7
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Spelling Practice 1, Unit 8
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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:
Another parent outside the school gates, whose daughter is in Year 8 and nephew is in Year 7, said the family was "so worried" and "not going anywhere".
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
Wotan confesses his predicament to Brünnhilde, then destroys the daughter who has understood him too well.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
The album’s most memorable song was “Not Ready to Make Nice,” a rebuke of a mother who would make her daughter hate a perfect stranger.
From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2026
Shy, retreating Minnie was happy to bask in Callie’s light, while Helen’s existence was almost entirely dedicated to her only daughter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
“This is our son, Jonah, and his friend Chip, whose parents couldn’t come today; and our daughter, Katherine, who’s not adopted but wanted to be here to, uh, support her brother.”
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
“And I think it’s because of this knowledge that women have for their daughters, grandmothers have for their granddaughters, that the world is tough, and we have to be strong.”
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
Parents must weigh the risks and rewards of letting their sons and daughters play contact sports in high school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
An Argentine flight manifest reviewed by The Wall Street Journal lists Bolsonaro, traveling on an Italian passport, alongside his wife and two daughters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters boarded "a private flight operated by the company Baires Fly S.A. bound for the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador," the government agency said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
“The students, the sons and daughters of older black residents, started the political and social unrest in Selma,” recalled Annie Lee Cooper.
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
