girls

noun

plural of girl
1
as in maidens
a young unmarried woman he's engaged to a girl that his parents really like

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2
as in fillies
a female person who has not yet reached adulthood when I was a girl, I wanted a horse so badly

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in girlfriends
a female romantic companion found an old letter by my grandfather asking my grandmother to be his girl

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of girls Nearly 1 in 5 middle and high school girls reported seriously considering harming themselves in a 2023-24 survey. — Leondra Head, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2026 He was convicted in June of one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency and 13 indecent assault charges involving two girls between 1985 and 2008. — ABC News, 15 Oct. 2026 Percherette’s contemporaries are the characters in Jane Austen’s novels, and those girls just live in their home and sometimes go to the nextdoor neighbor’s home. — Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026 Inside the studio, Meghan joined a group of girls for a confidence-building and bracelet-making workshop. — Lianne Kolirin, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2026 The press coverage essentially retrofitted 1692 with the anxieties of 1976, recasting the Salem girls as teenagers on a bad trip. — Jennifer Byrne, Popular Science, 15 Oct. 2026 The special will reunite the bad girls of season seven including Stasi Townsend, Shelly Hickman, Judi Jackson, Tiara Hodge, Angie Castillo, and Priscilla Mennella. — Peter White, Deadline, 15 Oct. 2026 According to Andreeva, Nike’s share loss is less pronounced for guys than for girls, reflecting a 1-point loss in mindshare versus 6 points, respectively. — Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 15 Oct. 2026 As evidence, Buckner cited comments Cunningham made earlier this year in an ESPN article about trans athletes competing against girls. — Bobby Burack Outkick, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for girls
  1. maidens
  2. fillies
  3. girlfriends
  4. maids
  5. women
Noun
  • There was a procession to the church of white clad handmaidens (tärnor), star boys (stjärngossar) and gingerbread men (pepparkaksgubbar) with candle wreaths on the maidens’ heads – now battery powered rather than actual flames.
    — Natasha Langan, TheWeek, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Ritual gifts include incense, flowers, perfume, cosmetics and soap, which Hor said are believed to bring beauty and charm after being blessed by the cowherd and seven maidens.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of maidens
Noun
  • Five older fillies and mares were entered in the 61/2-furlong sprint on the main track.
    — Bill Center, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Aug. 2026
  • The Alcibiades and Jessamine are also worth watching because both are for two-year-old fillies, meaning the field is making its first serious appearance on a big stage.
    — Jill Barth, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of fillies
Noun
  • Both players, arrested in the offseason on charges tied to domestic abuse involving their girlfriends, remain the subjects of ongoing league investigations.
    — Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • There was a coordinated social media effort by the NFL to allow some of the league’s star quarterbacks — namely Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow and Jaxson Dart — to have their popular girlfriends canoodling with them at preseason practices.
    — Marlow Stern, Variety, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of girlfriends
Noun
  • This is the kind of show where an opulent tea party is dramatized not just by many different plates of fancy pastries, fancy wreaths and lots of furniture, but by having all that stuff carted in by a dozen or so butlers, maids and other servants.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Jackson was particularly vocal in her criticism of the show’s shallow scripts, which featured plotlines about them going undercover as French maids, showgirls, lifeguards and, perhaps most infamously, prison inmates.
    — Michael Callahan, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of maids
Noun
  • That a self-image forged in the crucible of the fear of being ugly makes women amputate their talents?
    — Eugenie Brinkema, ARTnews.com, 17 Oct. 2026
  • For many of these women, there's no senior circuit for ring girls.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of women

Browse Nearby Words

girlishness
girls
girt
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Cite this Entry

“Girls.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/girls. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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