woman
[woo m-uh n]
- the female human being, as distinguished from a girl or a man.
- an adult female person.
- a female attendant to a lady of rank.
- a wife.
- the nature, characteristics, or feelings often attributed to women; womanliness.
- a sweetheart or paramour; mistress.
- a female employee or representative: A woman from the real estate agency called.
- a female person who cleans house, cooks, etc.; housekeeper: The woman will be in to clean today.
- women collectively: Woman is no longer subordinate to man.
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- to put into the company of a woman.
- to equip or staff with women.
- Obsolete. to cause to act or yield like a woman.
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- of women; womanly.
- female: a woman plumber.
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- be one's own woman, (of females) to be free from restrictions, control, or dictatorial influence; be independent.
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Origin of woman
Synonym study
Woman, female, lady are nouns referring to adult human beings who are biologically female; that is, capable of bearing offspring. Woman is the general term. It is neutral, lacking either favorable or unfavorable implication, and is the most commonly used of the three: a wealthy woman; a woman of strong character, of unbridled appetites. In scientific, statistical, and other objective use, female is the neutral contrastive term to male and may apply to plants and animals also: 104 females to every 100 males; Among lions, the female is the chief hunter. Female is sometimes used in disparaging contexts: a gossipy female; a conniving female. Lady meaning “refined, polite woman” is a term of approval or praise: a real lady in all things; to behave like a lady.
Usage note
2. Although formerly woman was sometimes regarded as demeaning and lady was the term of courtesy, woman is the designation preferred by most modern female adults: League of Women Voters; American Association of University Women. Woman is the standard feminine parallel to man. As a modifier of a plural noun, woman, like man, is exceptional in that the plural form women is used: women athletes; women students. The use of lady as a term of courtesy has diminished somewhat in recent years ( the lady of the house ), although it still survives in a few set phrases ( ladies' room; Ladies' Day ). Lady is also used, but decreasingly, as a term of reference for women engaged in occupations considered by some to be menial or routine: cleaning lady; saleslady. See also girl, lady, -woman.
-woman
- a combining form of woman: chairwoman; forewoman; spokeswoman.
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Usage note
Feminine compounds ending in -woman are equivalent to the masculine compounds in -man. When the person referred to is a woman, the feminine form is often, but not always, used: alderman, alderwoman; assemblyman, assemblywoman; chairman, chairwoman; congressman, congresswoman; spokesman, spokeswoman; businessman, businesswoman. However, some forms ending in -man are applied to women, and occasionally terms in -man are specified by legal code: Alderman Dorothy Lavelle. In general, the practice in current edited written English is to avoid the -man form in reference to a woman or the plural -men when members of both sexes are involved. Instead, a sex-neutral term is used: council members rather than councilmen and councilwomen; representative or legislator rather than congressman or congresswoman. See also chairperson, -man, -person.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for woman
Contemporary Examples
A fourth suspect, a 26-year-old woman named Hayat Boumeddiene, remains at large.
In 2009, a Pakistani Christian woman got into a religious argument with some Muslim women with whom she was harvesting berries.
It is the summit of human happiness: the surrender of man to God, of woman to man, of several women to the same man.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim PresidentPierre Assouline
January 9, 2015
While 19 percent of the House is female, just one woman will get to chair one of its 20 committees.
Instead, the man and woman in the truck wanted to know where the crash site was and whether would I show them.
Historical Examples
If that man was a woman he'd be a warm neighbourhood gossip.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
No woman was allowed to enter Olympia, during the celebration of the games.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
Yea, like a woman, who deems a man safest when he is a tailor, or a perfumer.
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
It had been all the same to Mrs. Bines for as many years as a woman of fifty can remember.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Some other men and a woman were scanning the hoisting machinery with superior looks.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
woman
- an adult female human being
- (modifier) female or femininea woman politician; woman talk
- women collectively; womankind
- the woman feminine nature or feelingsbabies bring out the woman in her
- a female servant or domestic help
- a man considered as having supposed female characteristics, such as meekness or timidity
- informal a wife, mistress, or girlfriend
- the little woman informal one's wife
- woman of the streets a prostitute
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- rare to provide with women
- obsolete to make effeminate
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Word Origin
Old English wīfmann, wimman; from wife + man (human being)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for woman
n.
late Old English wimman (plural wimmen), literally "woman-man," alteration of wifman (plural wifmen), a compound of wif "woman" (see wife) + man "human being" (in Old English used in reference to both sexes; see man (n.)). Cf. Dutch vrouwmens "wife," literally "woman-man."
The formation is peculiar to English and Dutch. Replaced older Old English wif and quean as the word for "female human being." The pronunciation of the singular altered in Middle English by the rounding influence of -w-; the plural retains the original vowel. Meaning "wife," now largely restricted to U.S. dialectal use, is attested from mid-15c. Women's liberation is attested from 1966; women's rights is from 1840, with an isolated example in 1630s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with woman
woman
see feel like oneself (new woman); marked man (woman); (woman) of few words; own person (woman); right-hand man (woman); scarlet woman.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.