male

/meɪl/

/meɪl/

Other forms: males

A male is a guy, a dude, a boy, or a man. A male animal is not female. Male life forms are the opposite of females in many ways. The biggest way is that males can’t have babies.

Male is a manly word. Rarr! You won’t find women on an all-male rugby team. If the doctor says, “It’s a boy,” you’ve got yourself a male baby. Males exist in plants and other animals — the male is the gamete-producing sex that fertilizes the female. Things can be male, too, like adapters that have male parts that fit into female parts. Most male animals are bigger than females, but not all. The biggest blue whales are female.

Definitions of male

1. adjective

   being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that perform the fertilizing function in generation
   “a male infant”

   “a male holly tree”

   synonyms:

   antheral, staminate

   capable of fertilizing female organs

   phallic, priapic

   resembling or being a phallus

   priapic

   overly concerned with masculinity and male sexuality

   young-begetting

   capable of fathering offspring

   masculine

   associated with men and not with women

   antonyms:

   female

   being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces fertilizable gametes (ova) from which offspring develop

   androgynous

   having both male and female characteristics

   female

   for or pertaining to or composed of women or girls

   egg-producing, young-bearing

   capable of producing eggs and bearing offspring

   pistillate

   having gynoecia, or pistils, the ovule-bearing organ of a seed plant

   bisexual, epicene

   having an ambiguous sexual identity

   gynandromorphic, gynandromorphous

   having both male and female morphological characteristics

   hermaphrodite, hermaphroditic

   of animal or plant; having both male female reproductive organs

   intersexual

   having sexual characteristics intermediate between those of male and female

   pseudohermaphrodite, pseudohermaphroditic

   having internal reproductive organs of one sex and external sexual characteristics of the other sex

   unisex

   not distinguished on the basis of sex

   feminine

   associated with women and not with men
2. adjective

   characteristic of a man
   “a deep male voice”

   synonyms: manful, manlike, manly, virile

   masculine

   associated with men and not with women
3. adjective

   for or pertaining to or composed of men or boys
   “the male lead”

   “the male population”
4. noun

   an animal that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that can fertilize female gametes (ova)
   antonyms:

   female

   an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa)

   types:

   sire

   male parent of an animal especially a domestic animal such as a horse

   colt

   a young male horse under the age of four

   male horse

   the male of species Equus caballus

   bullock, steer

   castrated bull

   ridgel, ridgeling, ridgil, ridgling

   a colt with undescended testicles

   entire, stallion

   uncastrated adult male horse

   gelding

   castrated male horse

   type of:

   animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature, fauna

   a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
5. noun

   a person who belongs to the sex that cannot have babies
   synonyms: male person

   antonyms:

   female

   a person who belongs to the sex that can have babies

   types:

   boy wonder

   an extremely talented young male person

   blighter, bloke, chap, cuss, fella, feller, fellow, gent, lad

   a boy or man

   foster brother, foster-brother

   your foster brother is a male who is not a son of your parents but who is raised by your parents

   macho

   a male exhibiting or characterized by machismo

   boy, male child

   a youthful male person

   male offspring, man-child

   a child who is male

   adult male, man

   an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)

   man

   a male person who plays a significant role (husband or lover or boyfriend) in the life of a particular woman

   man

   an adult male person who has a manly character (virile and courageous competent)

   mother's son

   a male person

   sirrah

   formerly a contemptuous term of address to an inferior man or boy; often used in anger

   Black man

   a man who is Black

   white man

   a man who is White

   altar boy

   a boy serving as an acolyte

   baboo, babu

   used as a Hindi courtesy title; equivalent to English `Mr'

   bachelor, unmarried man

   a man who has never been married

   ball boy

   a boy who retrieves balls for tennis players

   bat boy

   (baseball) a boy who takes care of bats and other baseball equipment

   bey

   (formerly) a title of respect for a man in Turkey or Egypt

   boy

   a friendly informal reference to a grown man

   cub, lad, laddie, sonny, sonny boy

   a male child (a familiar term of address to a boy)

   beau, boyfriend, fellow, swain, young man

   a man who is the lover of a girl or young woman

   ex-boyfriend

   a man who is no longer a woman's boyfriend

   Samson, bruiser, bull, strapper

   a large and strong and heavyset man

   catamite

   a boy who submits to a sexual relationship with a man

   beau, clotheshorse, dandy, dude, fashion plate, fop, gallant, sheik, swell

   a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance

   dog

   informal term for a man

   Esq, Esquire

   a title of respect for a member of the English gentry ranking just below a knight; placed after the name

   castrate, eunuch

   a man who has been castrated and is incapable of reproduction

   farm boy

   a boy who has grown up on a farm

   father figure, father surrogate

   a man who takes over all the functions of the real father

   father-figure

   a man (often a powerful or influential man) who arouses emotions usually felt for your real father and with whom you identify psychologically

   Fauntleroy, Little Lord Fauntleroy

   an excessively polite and well-dressed boy

   buster, dude, fellow

   an informal form of address for a man

   galoot

   a disreputable or clumsy person

   geezer

   a man who is (usually) old and/or eccentric

   gentleman

   a man of refinement

   divorced man, grass widower

   a man who is divorced from (or separated from) his wife

   bozo, cat, guy, hombre

   an informal term for a youth or man

   Herr

   a German man; used before the name as a title equivalent to Mr in English

   Hooray Henry

   a lively and ineffectual upper-class young man

   housefather

   a man in charge of children in an institution

   hunk

   a well-built, attractive man

   ex, ex-husband

   a man who was formerly a certain woman's husband

   inamorato

   a man with whom you are in love or have an intimate relationship

   iron man, ironman

   a strong man of exceptional physical endurance

   ironside

   a man of great strength or bravery

   adonis

   any handsome young man

   middle-aged man

   a man who is roughly between 45 and 65 years old

   Monsieur

   used as a French courtesy title; equivalent to English `Mr'

   old boy, old man

   a familiar term of address for a man

   Methuselah, graybeard, greybeard, old man

   a man who is very old

   paterfamilias, patriarch

   the male head of family or tribe

   Peter Pan

   a boyish or immature man; after the boy in Barrie's play who never grows up

   ploughboy, plowboy

   a boy who leads the animals that draw a plow

   ponce

   a man who is effeminate in his manner and fussy in the way he dresses

   posseman

   an able-bodied man serving as a member of a posse

   schoolboy

   a boy attending school

   Scout

   a Boy Scout or Girl Scout

   Senhor

   a Portuguese title of respect; equivalent to English `Mr'

   shaver

   an adult male who shaves

   shop boy

   a young male shop assistant

   signior, signor

   used as an Italian courtesy title; can be prefixed to the name or used separately

   signore

   an Italian title of respect for a man; equivalent to the English `sir'; used separately (not prefixed to his name)

   sir

   term of address for a man

   boy, son

   a male human offspring

   stiff

   an ordinary man

   he-man, macho-man, stud

   a man who is virile and sexually active

   Tarzan

   (sometimes used ironically) a man of great strength and agility (after the hero of a series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs)

   widower, widowman

   a man whose wife is dead especially one who has not remarried

   philanderer, womaniser, womanizer

   a man who likes many women and has short sexual relationships with them

   golden boy, wonder boy

   a man who is unusually successful at an early age

   young buck, young man

   a teenager or a young adult male

   type of:

   individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul

   a human being