Meaning & use
an alpha female
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Meanings
nouncountable
A woman who is seen as the most powerful or dominant one in her group, often assertive and competitive.
Grammar: Countable, so it takes an or an and has a plural: an alpha female, two alpha females.
Patterns
- be an alpha female
- the alpha female of something
In the office she quickly became the alpha female, and everyone brought problems to her desk.
The documentary followed an alpha female who led the whole wolf pack.
He says his boss is an alpha female who never backs down in a meeting.
nouncountabletechnicalbiology
The dominant female animal in a social group, especially among wolves, primates or other mammals.
Grammar: Countable and used in biology; often appears with of plus the group.
Patterns
- the alpha female of a group
- an alpha female in a pack
Only the alpha female in the pack produces cubs each year.
Researchers recorded which chimpanzee was the alpha female by watching who ate first.
Word forms
| plural | alpha females |
|---|
Common combinations
- the alpha female of the group
- She was clearly the alpha female of the group, and no one challenged her.
- become the alpha female
- After the old leader died, a younger female became the alpha female.
- an alpha female personality
- His book describes the alpha female personality as confident and blunt.
- alpha female behaviour
- The team studied alpha female behaviour in captive wolves.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dominant female
- Neutral and common in science writing; 'alpha female' sounds more like a set label or a piece of popular psychology.
- leader
- Much broader and usually positive; it says nothing about dominance or aggression, which 'alpha female' often hints at.
- bossy woman
- Informal and clearly critical; it describes behavior only, while 'alpha female' also suggests high status in the group.
Opposites
Word family
- alpha male noun
- The male equivalent: the dominant man or male animal in a group.
- alpha adjective
- Used before a noun to mean leading or dominant, as in an alpha wolf.
Commonly confused: an alpha female or alpha male? an alpha female or feminist?
an alpha female vs alpha male
This is the male version; 'alpha female' refers only to a woman or a female animal, so the two are not interchangeable.
an alpha female vs feminist
A feminist supports equal rights for women, which has nothing to do with being dominant; the two words are sometimes wrongly mixed.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'an alpha female' in the way biologists would?
Choose one answer.
In biology the phrase means the dominant female animal in a social group, which fits the sentence about the pack. The first option uses the phrase loosely about spending, the third contradicts the usual sense of assertiveness, and the fourth is wrong because 'female' cannot describe a male person.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “an alpha female”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.