lioness
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of lioness
1250–1300; Middle English liones, leonesse < Middle French lion ( n ) esse. See lion, -ess
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.
Mr. Schaller spent three years studying lions in Africa, once crawling through thorny thickets to count cubs a lioness had hidden there.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025
In Farsi, this term honors women who are strong, who stand up for their rights and who are trailblazers—courageous, brave and resilient, much like a lioness.
From Salon • Sep. 15, 2024
The lioness was named after Hindu deity Sita while the lion was called Akbar, after the 16th Century Mughal ruler.
From BBC • Feb. 23, 2024
Tea, 52, is a Massachusetts-to-San Francisco-to-Los Angeles transplant — and the literary lioness who created, among many other cultural lightning rods, the notorious Drag Queen Story Hour.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2023
It shows the head of a crocodile, the body of a lioness, and the rump of a hippopotamus.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
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.
