female: Meaning and Definition of

fe•male

Pronunciation: (fē'māl), [key]
— n.
  1. a person bearing two X chromosomes in the cell nuclei and normally having a vagina, a uterus and ovaries, and developing at puberty a relatively rounded body and enlarged breasts, and retaining a beardless face; a girl or woman.
  2. an organism of the sex or sexual phase that normally produces egg cells.
  3. a pistillate plant.
—adj.
  1. of, pertaining to, or being a female animal or plant.
  2. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a female person; feminine: female suffrage; female charm.
  3. composed of females: a female readership.
    1. designating or pertaining to a plant or its reproductive structure that produces or contains elements requiring fertilization.
    2. (of seed plants) pistillate.
  4. being or having a recessed part into which a corresponding part fits:Cf. male (def. 5). a female plug.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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