Definition of WOMAN

woman

Meanings

Plural: women

Noun

  • an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
    • "the woman kept house while the man hunted"
  • a female person who plays a significant role (wife or mistress or girlfriend) in the life of a particular man
    • "he was faithful to his woman"
  • a human female employed to do housework
    • "I have a woman who comes in four hours a day while I write"
  • women as a class
    • "it's an insult to American womanhood"
    • "woman is the glory of creation"
  • An adult female human.
  • All female humans collectively; womankind.
  • A female person, usually an adult: a (generally adult) female sentient being, whether human, supernatural, elf, alien, etc.
  • A wife (or sometimes a fiancée or girlfriend).
  • A female person who is extremely fond of or devoted to a specified type of thing. (Used as the last element of a compound.)
  • A female attendant or servant.

Verb

  • To staff with female labor.
  • To make effeminate or womanish.
  • To furnish with, or unite to, a woman.
  • To call (a person) "woman" in a disrespectful fashion.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English womman, wimman, wifman, from Old English wīfmann (“woman”, literally “female person”), a compound of wīf (“woman, female”, whence English wife) + mann (“person, human being”, whence English man). For details on the pronunciation and spelling history, see the usage notes below.
Cognate with Scots woman, weman (“woman”), Saterland Frisian Wieuwmoanske (“female person, female human, woman”). Similar constructions can be found in West Frisian frommes (“woman, girl”) (from frou and minske, literally "woman human").
A few alternative spellings (see below) respell the term so as not to contain man.

Synonyms

adult female, babe, baggage, bim, bint, bird, bitch, blone, broad, char, charwoman, chick, cleaning lady, cleaning woman, covess, dame, donna, fair sex, female, feme, femme, femoid, frau, frow, gal, gentlelady, ginch, hen, ho, huwoman, lady, maness, more at Thesaurus:woman, mort, mulier, placket, pussy, queen, she, sheila, skirt, squaw, thot, twist, tía, vaginoid, wan, wife, wimmin, woman, womanhood, wommon, womon, womxn, womyn

Antonyms

girl, man

Scrabble Score: 10

woman is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
woman is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
woman is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

woman is a valid Words With Friends word