woman

noun

wom·​an ˈwu̇-mən 

especially Southern

ˈwō- 

or

ˈwə- 

plural women ˈwi-mən 

1

a

: an adult female person

b

: a woman belonging to a particular category (as by birth, residence, membership, or occupation)

—usually used in combination

councilwoman

2

: womankind

3

: distinctively feminine nature : womanliness

4

: a woman who is a servant or personal attendant

5

a

chiefly dialectal : wife

b

: mistress

c

: girlfriend sense 2

6

: a woman who is extremely fond of or devoted to something specified

I'm a chocolate woman through and through, but one bite of West's banana pudding cupcake and I was sold.

—Hattie Brown Garrow

woman adjective

womanless

ˈwu̇-mən-ləs 

especially Southern ˈwō-

or ˈwə-

adjective

Synonyms of woman

• lady
• female

Examples of woman in a Sentence

She grew up to become a confident and beautiful woman.

She is a grown woman.

The store sells shoes for both men and women.

Recent Examples on the Web

The woman was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, according to officials. —Nick Lentz, CBS News, 4 Jan. 2026

Others were thwarted when male jockeys boycotted or threatened to boycott if a woman was riding. —Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 3 Jan. 2026

Avila was riding in the Honda HRV with the 6-year-old girl and a 70-year-old woman, believed to be his wife. —Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 3 Jan. 2026

The Mount Sinai study, which began recruiting patients 40 and older in 2021, aims to analyze BAC rates in a diverse sample of 14,875 women. —Lindsey Leake, NBC news, 3 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Old English wīfman, from wīf woman, wife + man human being, man

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing woman

• a man/woman/person of substance
• a man/woman/person to be reckoned with
• a man/woman/person to reckon with
• a marked man/woman
• anti-woman
• battered woman syndrome
• cleaning woman
• emancipated woman
• fancy woman
• kept woman
• like a man/woman possessed
• little woman
• make an honest woman of (someone)
• make (someone) an honest woman
• man/woman of few words
• man/woman of his/her word
• one-woman
• other woman
• Renaissance woman
• the little woman
• the other woman
• trans woman
• woman/man of style
• woman of color
• woman of ill repute
• woman of letters
• woman of the street
• woman of the world
• woman's/feminine touch
• woman's rights
• woman suffrage

Rhymes for woman

• businesswoman
• congresswoman
• englishwoman
• gentlewoman
• noblewoman
• policewoman
• washerwoman
• chairwoman
• frenchwoman
• kinswoman
• madwoman
• saleswoman

Kids Definition

woman

noun

wom·​an ˈwu̇m-ən 

plural women ˈwim-ən 

1

: an adult female person

2

: womankind

3

: a woman who is a servant or attendant

Etymology

Old English wīfman "a female person," from wīf "woman, wife" and man "person"