woman

n.

1. An adult female

   female, lady, dame, matron, gentlewoman, maid, spinster, debutante, nymph, virgin, girl, old woman, chick*, bird*, broad*, fem*, doll*, deb*. *

2. A wife or mistress

   love, lover, wife, old lady*; see housewife, mistress 2.

3. A female servant

   companion, housekeeper, cleaning lady, charlady (British), washerwoman, laundress, cook, maid, serving lady; see also servant, slave 1.

4. Womankind

   femininity, fair sex, eternal feminine, the world of women, the female of the species*, the weaker vessel*; see also womanhood 2.

woman is the standard general term for the adult human being of the sex distinguished from man; female, referring specif. to sex, is applied to plants and animals, but is now regarded as a mildly contemptuous equivalent for womanthat strong-minded female is here again, except in scientific, technical, or statistical use, as in population tables; lady, originally used specif. of a woman of the upper classes and until recently commonly used in polite or genteel reference to any woman, is now often avoided as a general substitute for woman, except in such formulas as ""ladies and gentlemen.''